Popular Games in the Strangest of Places

[Music] have you ever been looking through a list of games and come across titles you never knew existed even now in 2024 I still find games I didn't know about or at least haven't played very much of sometimes it's an arcade Port I didn't know about or it was a popular game that was moved over to a much weaker platform that idea motivated me to put together this episode for you I'm going to take a look at some popular games that showed up in places I didn't expect not all of these are direct ports or conversions but they are popular IPS and series you probably know quite well sometimes the results were surprisingly good and sometimes they were profoundly disappointing I've got 13 games for you so let's get started [Music] Bon Adventure was such a great platformer when it appeared on the turbo Graphics in 1990 it was colorful offered up some new gameplay moves over your typical platformer and it had a fun and appealing character in the center of it all NEC would use Bonk as the mascot of the platform for a few years and he received a few sequels and spin-offs from there Bon also had his very own arcade game and even got a couple of Super Nintendo Adventures eventually but the place I never thought in a million years I'd see Bonk was on the Nintendo Entertainment System yet in 1993 that's what happened Bon's adventure and all its Glory was right there on 1983 technology and for the most part it was an outstanding Port it sees a reduction in color but in terms of sprite size animation music and level design you couldn't have wished for a closer representation of the PC Engine original I was so impressed by this the first time I saw it I thought it was fake it's a real game however and one you should definitely check out if you've never played it after it was clear the turbo Graphics wasn't going to be a huge seller Bonk was moved around to numerous platforms but out of all of those this one right here was the biggest and most Pleasant of surprises [Music] is [Music] in 1992 contra 3 the Alien Wars made its debut on the Super Nintendo the two-player action came to Define that genre and that new Super Nintendo Edition took the series to new heights of graphics and sound surely any port of this sucker would need to go to another powerful 16- bit system right nope because in 1994 the freaking Game Boy of all systems received it when I saw it I just had to chuckle to myself about how badly this conversion must look sound and play in comparison surely Konami had lost their minds thinking that a game this good could run on a platform like the Game Boy turns out it was better suited than I ever would have believed conami had that 8bit Hardware running full boore because contra 3 is an outstanding portable experience as you'd expect the mode 7 effects have been either removed entirely or mimicked to a much lesser degree here the overhead areas are still there but they do not rotate the same way they did in the original the speed of the game is also slower to account for the smaller screen and the blurring that would often occur but for all intents and purposes this is the Super Nintendo game Boss encounters are mostly faithful the weapons are here and it makes excellent use of the super Game Boy if you have one the music is very different but I really enjoyed it it has that funky Game Boy vibe to it that grows on you after a few seconds SS Factor 5 of Turk and fame handled this port and they pulled off the impossible in the best of [Music] [Music] ways [Music] my friends and I wasted countless days and credits at the bowling alley playing Mortal Kombat 2 at its release when the 16 bit home ports landed we jumped on those as well the popularity was immense and just being able to talk about it at school or with your friends motivated you to find a way to play it when I first saw the game gear box I thought this must be the absolute worst way to play this game and you know I was right the janky slideshow gameplay is a far cry from the arcade and 16-bit versions The animations are slow and framy characters were cut out and it lost all but two of the backgrounds your first impressions are not strong with this one and many will likely never try it because of that I came in looking for something that resembled the arcade experience you aren't going to get that here and you'll come away cursing it's exist resistance the visuals themselves are decent enough for an 8bit handheld the Sprites are large and represent the fighters well the developer probe use background tiles to achieve this but it causes a very choppy gameplay experience so much so the animation almost seems like it just flashes frame to frame without any smoothness at all the sound effects and voices are of course substantially neutered but the music still has that matte furnace twang to it that serves it well once you adjust to the choppy movement the gameplay does come together in something slightly resembling a one-on-one fighter it's never good hell it's never even just okay but after a few matches there can be some laughs once you get good at it surprisingly both canaro and shiao khah remain as Final Bosses there was a Master System version released in pow regions that gives you a larger Playfield but this one is better left in your memories the ravages of time have made it virtually unplayable today [Music] fight Batman games were Once Upon a Time some of the best in the business the 1989 movie spawned a number of releases by sunsoft who made an incredible NES action game with some of the best music on that platform then they made a Sega Genesis version that sounded just as nice that was again a really fun game in its own right among those two Unforgettable titles they made a third Batman game for nec's PC engine instead of porting one of their previous efforts they chose to go in another Direction entirely this time they went for a top down Maze Runner where Batman must collect items to move on to the next stage it was a radical departure from the other Batman games in their stable and it remained only in Japan this was such a weird change of direction from the other two games two multi-directional Sid scrollers with tons of action against this rather tame execution of the IP seemed incredibly out of place it's not that this version is bad because it's really not it has a great soundtrack and it plays well for what it is it's just that it's so different from the others perhaps sunsoft was short on time and created this under a crunch or maybe a previous license deal kept them from porting over their other works whatever happened it ended up giving us a version of Batman the video game I don't think anyone was [Music] expecting [Music] most of us remember Splatterhouse whether you played it in the arcade or on the turbo Graphics this was one of the first games that ever attempted a real Horror Story in atmosphere but did you ever expect to see a version of it on Nintendo's 8bit famicom in 1989 Splatterhouse Wan paku graffiti was released only in Japan a satirical take on The Originals more serious tone it uses the big-headed and little bodied art style to execute its humor more effectively and it's a wild departure from the original in pretty much every way instead of focusing on beat them up elements it opts for a more action platformer approach to the action the story has the Pumpkin King kidnapping your girlfriend and you have to get her back many of the scenarios and enemies are based on popular media of the time so you'll recognize quite a few if you have any age on you at all the visuals and sound are your typical 8 bit Staples of smaller Sprites and music that is shockingly Pleasant it was done by now production the same company that did the Sega Genesis sequels Parts two and three this one really is a Mis gem because I didn't know about it for years when I finally did find it I dismissed it because I thought it'd be a cut down support of the original arcade it's so much more than that though and it is very much worth the effort to play it it's tough but a password system really helps you out it was also included in Namco Museum archives volume 1 for the Nintendo switch quite [Music] recently [Music] back in the day Double Dragon was released for just about everything if the console or computer had any real standing in the industry it got a port of it even the handhelds of the time got their own games but I have to confess I was still shocked someone attempted a port of it to the Atari 2600 I mean the platform had been long dead when Double Dragon was released in the arcade in 1987 the NESN Master System had replaced it and those were the versions you wanted to play even though I had heard of it for years I still never took the time to sit down and play it until now in this very video Yep this is the first time I have have ever really sat down and played this one seriously and it quickly became apparent why I had no desire to go after it before this port of Double Dragon is awful in every way I expected the sound and visual cutbacks I mean it's 1970s Hardware after all but that gameplay is just vinegar on an open and festering wound of an experience any attempt to actually fight is met with immediate destruction by the ridiculous AI after being annihilated numerous times I realized the only thing that you can do is just constantly elbow smash the computer to get anywhere you could spam the elbow and other versions as well but at least in those you could do other things to mix it up a little you can argue all day about how this was impressive on a technical level because of the ancient Hardware all you want the end result is a poor playing experience that failed on every level to be the least bit fun I'm no 2600 fan so it might just be that kid in me that despised its mediocre arcade ports all the years ago still talking but this game is just as much fun as those old Tiger handhelds and that ain't saying [Music] much as I've said on my channel a few times I was not privy to computer gaming in my early years I never knew anyone that had a c64 a MGA or a tari computer while they were relevant I was 23 years old before I owned a Windows based PC and much older than that before I really discovered everything that had to offer Diablo was a game I had wanted to play when it was released released in 1997 it was all the rage at the local bages game store and everyone was talking about it not having a PC at that time and I had to wait for a console Port that likely wouldn't be happening at least I didn't think so at the time yet in early 1998 Diablo showed up on the PlayStation in a surprisingly playable conversion it's true it lacks the sparkle of the higher resolution and performance of the PC edition but for someone new to the game this was perfectly acceptable the core fun Factor remained intact and it even had a multiplayer mode it was incredibly easy to get into and get lost in its lore and hunting for the best loot they retained the original game's three character classes and its randomized dungeons you could build a warrior and sink 40 hours into him only to turn around and try one of the other classes and do it all over again it was slow and plotting at times but it was the kind of title that you turned the lights down and really enjoyed its atmosphere if it was this game right here that started my love for the series and I've played them all quite a bit since Diablo on the PlayStation here plays a bit different with a controller but once you adjust it was just as fun a Time [Music] I was a fan of the NES Castlevania the second I took control of the main character and heard that Timeless soundtrack then the others came along and endeared me to the franchise even more as the years went on I discovered more Castlevania titles I had never played and some I had never even heard of when I sat down with Castlevania on the omiga for the first time I was expecting something akin to the NES game being ported to the Sega Genesis but what I got was nothing of the kind it was released in 1990 and developed by noo trade of echo the dolphin Fame it was a remake of the original Castlevania NES Edition with an upgraded presentation and I use upgrade it Loosely however because some things here come off notably worse there's no question the color use has been amped up in play places but the questionable art changes go into effect right from the opening zombies I mean these 10ft tall hopping monstrosities look so out of place I was also quite displeased with the sound and music while some Amiga games could sound great this is light years behind the NES original and just sounds wrong across the board every time you catch a familiar Melody and think it's going to get better it veers off into some out- of place change that destroys it entirely but as if he is the presentation was it's nothing compared to how broken the gameplay is choppy stuttering near slideshow levels of movement and animation take this from the classic it's based on to a broken mess of unplayable garbage just navigating the main character left and right feels wrong and every jump feels like you are about to carine straight into a pit death most of the boss encounters are little more than whipping as fast as you can to kill them and there is no ending here whatsoever I'd rather say through any amount of Dark Castle Castlevania 64 or ET gameplay challenges then have to play this shameful exhibition of tedious and insulting time wasting again the developers and the Publishers should have released their next game free of charge to make up for this travesty the mere fact that they felt this was worth money is just plain highway robbery platform apologist will try and tell you that it has its merits and I disagree 100% it's a show of of monumental proportions and should be stricken from history before it has a chance to disappoint any more fans of this classic [Music] IP [Music] [Music] very similar to Diablo Command and Conquer was another PC game I had heard so much about but couldn't play at its release it came out in 1995 an overhead strategy game where you built your army gathered resources and fought a war of attrition and until the other side was eradicated fortunately in late 1996 the Sega Saturn got a very good Port of the game thanks to Westwood Studios and virgin you have to play it with the controller but it does a serviceable job that allows a really good experience it comes on two CDs with each one representing the two sides of the story there's lots of different units to use a fairly robust story for this type of game and lots of cinematics to tell it you won't get the higher resolutions of the PC version but it still manag manages to look and sound decent all the same at the time these kinds of games were a godsend to home consoles even without the smoother and faster mouse support computers tended to be an expensive investment at the time so getting quality ports meant the world to a console only gamer like me there's many better ways to play this today but back then the Saturn was up to the task and handled it quite well not building captured not problem our base is under attack waiting yes sir when Donkey Kong Country was released in 1994 it was all the rage magazines heaped high scores on it and called it a 32-bit game on 16-bit Hardware tv ads bombarded you with merits giving the Super Nintendo a shot of adrenaline right at a time when Sega was abandoning the Genesis in favor of its 32 bit plans I confess I never took to the hype I always thought it played okay but was nowhere near as good as Mario World or Yoshi's Island but I'd be a fool to argue its impact most Super Nintendo fans loved it and it quickly spawned multiple sequels that sold great as well the inevitable ports to other consoles didn't come until the end of 2000 when When the Game Boy Color received it courtesy of rare themselves now the Game Boy Color was no Hardware Juggernaut it was still eight bit and only a Mild improvement over the original Game Boy which was a decade old at that point even for a 1998 release the Game Boy Color was still nowhere near as powerful or Advanced as the Super Nintendo yet its version of Donkey Kong Country is surprisingly good the color is of course cut back and the sound is different but as far as the core experience it's pretty much all here the gameplay feels right the stages and Collectibles have that familiar layout and fun factor and I was pleasantly surprised by the music it's different but like many Game Boy games it has a style all its own and actually serves the title well the only thing that sucked here was the fact Nintendo didn't have a damn backlight in the device so you always had to play it beside a lamp to see the screen the Game Boy advanced version would eventually supplant it as the best portable version but for a Time Donkey Kong Country on the Game Boy Color was more than [Music] adequate [Music] puyo PUO sun was originally an arcade game released in 1996 for the STV Titan board shortly thereafter it came to the Japanese Sega Saturn console and what was a perfect Port the PlayStation got a port of it that same year Sega would eventually acquire the puyo license from compile and begin to deal at out to other Platforms in 2003 Sega reissued the port of sun to the first PlayStation under their own Banner if you can believe it it's one of only two games that was published by and carry the Sega name for that platform the other was a tambourine music game that had some funky controllers made for it I was always fascinated by the popularity of this franchise in Japan and even more so that Sega actually published original PlayStation games the console was nearly a decade gold in Japan at that point kind of makes you wonder what some of sega's other games might have looked like on Sony's first console yeah yeah yeah me [Music] yeah kiss [Music] me [Music] yeah yeah than you golden ax is well known be it arcade or Genesis versions it's hacking slbe them up action define the Sega experience at the time easy to play with great sound and visuals the Genesis version added an extra stage and bosss fight that in some ways made it better than the arcade which was really cool because it released just a year later in 20 2002 Bandai took that Genesis version and published a port of it on their wond Swan color handheld in Japan it has the extra stage in boss and even looks and sounds similar to it the gameplay feels quite different however with attacks throws running and hit detection coming off feeling strange in comparison when I first played it I had my ass whooped quickly it took a number of tries to adjust to the way it plays but once you do you'll defeat it in no time this was released at a time when it was so weird seeing Sega games on platforms other than those made by Sega this was especially true for me because I was not a computer guy so I didn't see the mini ports there until later the wond Swan Library never really impressed me much but it was still fun to see something like this still getting released it must have sold like crap though because it goes for 300 bucks on the gray Market [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Sonic the Hedgehog was a regular on Sega console starting in 1991 master System Genesis Game Gear Saturn and Dreamcast all saw multiple games in the series and he was the face of Sega from the moment he showed up that's why it was so strange to seem pop up on the Neo geop Pocket color in 1999 Sonic pocket Adventure was a throwback to the original Genesis outings incorporating design elements from all those games into one extremely solid title the visuals look like a slightly upgraded Master System version and the speed here is very nice stage design looks mostly like the stuff you saw in Sonic 2 though the layouts are wildly different the Neo geop Pocket color also does a very nice job with the music which itself is a throwback to past games from the way you collect chaos emeralds in the bonus stages to the many hidden areas in each of the stages it was Sonic the way we loved him during the 16-bit generation I dare say it was the best Sonic had been in years and I consider this an absolute must playay for fans of the series Sonic Team oversaw its development with SNK handling the programming duties and they made absolute magic together it has Link cable support for two-player competitive matches and there is a puzzle mode where you collect pieces in the main game to put them together this was 2 years before Sonic Advance and just a few months after the Dreamcast made its us debut the tiny installed base of the Neo geop Pocket color meant that many people never got to experience this gem but emulation should make it accessible to you if that's still the case I'd love to see Sega revisit this game and reissue it on Modern devices it doesn't get anywhere near the love it [Music] deserves seeing certain ports and IP show up on different consoles and handhelds always was really interesting to me sometimes it was cool seeing how the game fared on different hardware and sometimes you were just interested in the behind the scenes reasons the game existed at all my biggest regret with some of these is that I dismissed them based on preconceived notions that made me believe they weren't worth my time just because a game was redone on weaker Hardware didn't always mean it was going to be unplayable and sometimes it could really surprise you if you like the premise of this episode I have many more options we can tackle in a part two if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them especially when it comes to computer versions I may not be familiar with I'm sigal Lord X thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next [Music] time [Music] [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 49,635

Keywords: game gear, turbografx, pc engine, atari 2600, nes, splatterhouse, bonk's adventure, donkey kong, donkey kong country, game boy, game boy color, neo geo pocket color, neo geo pocket, segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, 32x, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, retro gaming, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari, sega game gear

Id: Veh-PSJQg-Y

Length: 29min 55sec (1795 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024