Worst arcade conversion

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Kweepa
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Kweepa »

I think that mockup goes too far - the ladders should be simpler and there shouldn't be a skyline or a blue background. Also, Jumpman is a little too small compared to the barrels and Pauline.
Kong is awesome though!
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ivanzx »

There is another conversion of Donkey Kong on its way to be released and it looks really good and colourful...
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

Great news, Ivan!

Do you have any more info, maybe some link, screenshots, Youtube video?
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Morkin »

I didn't think Kung Fu Master was that bad, in fact I quite enjoyed it. Then again I don't think I played the arcade version.

Didn't think much of Zaxxon.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ivanzx »

Ralf wrote: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:43 am Great news, Ivan!

Do you have any more info, maybe some link, screenshots, Youtube video?
Its still a secret ;)
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Rorthron »

Ivanzx wrote: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:19 am There is another conversion of Donkey Kong on its way to be released and it looks really good and colourful...
Now, this I am excited about.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Morkin wrote: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:47 am Didn't think much of Zaxxon.
Yeah, the original arcade is not great, IMHO, but the Spectrum version is dissapointing.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

I never cared much about Zaxxon, both on arcade and on Spectrum.

But Kung-Fu Master was really a disappointment. It's sluggish, unresponsive and totally unplayable which is the big contrast with the original.

Another conversion that I don't like is Ghosts'n'Goblins. This game has actually high score from the voters on WOS, I checked it and it's 8.39. I completely don't understand it so I'll try to write more.

The loading screen is just ugly. 8 years old kid would do better:
Image

The game has very simplistic graphics, it a very limited number of badly drawn tiles and tiny sprites:
Image

It has only 3 levels of original 6 or so, with missing enemies and simplified backgrounds.

It lacks any music.

And it's too hard. Maybe on first level it's yet acceptable but try the second level with these little flying devils :twisted:

Yes, it's smooth with great framerate and scrolling but that's all. A bad conversion for me unfortunately.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Alessandro »

I once wrote a feature for the GamesArk.it web portal about the worst and the best of Spectrum coin-op conversions.

Although it is written in Italian, the percentage markings at the end of each entry should be pretty self-explanatory :)
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Alessandro wrote: Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:27 pm I once wrote a feature for the GamesArk.it web portal about the worst and the best of Spectrum coin-op conversions.

Although it is written in Italian, the percentage markings at the end of each entry should be pretty self-explanatory :)
Track and Field... great arcade game. As good as Hypersports.

If only it had been coded in the same way as Hypersports, we would have got a Spectrum classic.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

And as for Ghosts 'n' Goblins, I think it's similar to Commando, graphics are sacrified for a good gameplay, even when it's too hard. A good conversion, IMHO.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by PeteProdge »

You guys have missed the biggest disappointment.

Double Dragon. Woefully poor. Maybe I'm the only one saying it because Double Dragon is my all-time favourite arcade game, and the incarnation on the ZX Spectrum is dismal (although not as bad as the Atari 2600 or Sega Master System versions).

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Pac Land is immensely shocking. We know through the not-too-shabby conversion of Wonderboy that you can take these cutesy horizontal scrollers to the Speccy, but the programmers went with the easy-to-develop-but-hell-to-play route of making it flip screen. Meaning that you sometimes get to the end of a screen and find you can't move unless you jump over the fire hydrant that's immediately at the start of the next screen. It's digital blasphemy, avoid like the plague.

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Ralf wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:58 pm Mario Bros - plays very badly, unresponsive, difficult. Fortunately we have Pietro Bros now :)
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Absolutely disagree. I had Mario Bros as one of the many free games in Dixons's Spectrum +2 bundle. I think it was that or Donkey Kong which was the first game I ever loaded. The weird skiddy movement was annoying but I've subsequently played it on MAME (never saw it in a real arcade) and it feels very faithful.

Sure, it's not the highly prolific Super Mario Bros, which Ocean's Gary Bracey always wanted (and had to concede that Nintendo would not let such a highly valued title outside of its hardware), but the ZX Spectrum Mario Bros is a nice fun game that mirrors the 1983 original.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by PeteProdge »

Oh, and then there was this...
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Driving like a brick does in a bath of superglue.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Vampyre »

Was Flak an arcade conversion? If so it was atrocious. I had it on US Gold's Arcade Hall of Fame compilation which included the almost-as-bad Blue Max.

For me though, due to the expectation level, it has to be Kung-Fu Master. Just watched a YT vid and it's even worse than I remembered.

All three by US Gold - says a lot.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

Outrun is average in my opinion.

Yes, it is slow but the graphics are good and detailed. Compare other 8 bit versions.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by PeteProdge »

Ralf wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:50 pm Outrun is average in my opinion.

Yes, it is slow but the graphics are good and detailed. Compare other 8 bit versions.
The C64 version is crap, but crap in a really different way. Very fast, but no choice in route and the roads are far narrower.

At first glance, the MSX version looks just the same as the ZX Spectrum, but as you get going it's... oh I can't describe the weirdness of the road panning. A YouTube video will show how utterly awful and off-putting it is.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by 5MinuteRetro »

Ralf wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:50 pm Outrun is average in my opinion.

Yes, it is slow but the graphics are good and detailed. Compare other 8 bit versions.
I loved Outrun back in the day, on my ZX Spectrum I mean. It was probably my favourite arcade machine and as the Spectrum was the only computer I had, I guess I embraced the conversion. Yes it was slow but I think the gameplay captured the essence of the arcade machine, and it had the music (on my 128K toast rack, at least).

Still, the later Chase HQ showed what Outrun on the Speccy could've been...
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by RMartins »

PeteProdge wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:25 am You guys have missed the biggest disappointment.

Double Dragon. Woefully poor. Maybe I'm the only one saying it because Double Dragon is my all-time favourite arcade game, and the incarnation on the ZX Spectrum is dismal (although not as bad as the Atari 2600 or Sega Master System versions).

Image
...
I have not seen the Atari 2600 version, but I would not bash it that hard, since if they have done anything remotely similar it's a success by any measure, since that machine only has 128 bytes (NOT Kbytes) of RAM, and that's for variables and stack!
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

Atari 2600 is a machine from 1977 :o 5 years earlier than Spectrum. Comparing it to Spectrums or C64s is a bit unfair.

And yet it beats all 8 bit machines with 128 colour palette :lol:

And here's the video for anyone curious:
[media]https://youtu.be/th0-t0X8ZTk[/media]
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

For me, Out Run and Enduro Racer were two decent conversions, not bad games, knowing the Spectrum limitations. But I enjoyed them more back in the day. They haven't aged well.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

And what about Pole Position?

For me, compared to the original, the Spectrum version is bad, the car looks 'static', with no motion. However, it's payable.

[media]https://youtu.be/FFs1Xc82Q0U [/media]
[media]https://youtu.be/76omr-7FDXo [/media]
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by 5MinuteRetro »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:55 pm And what about Pole Position?

For me, compared to the original, the Spectrum version is bad, the car looks 'static', with no motion. However, it's payable.

[media]https://youtu.be/FFs1Xc82Q0U [/media]
[media]https://youtu.be/76omr-7FDXo [/media]
I don't think I knew that PP had made it to the Spectrum. From the video it looks like a pretty reasonable stab at a conversion. At least, it has plenty of colour: it'd have been easy for the developer to go for a lazy monochrome job.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

Pole Position on Spectrum looks very all right with lots of colour.

It's an early game and I believe that in early Spectrum days people wanted to do colourful games. It could have colour clash but it had to be colourful. Only later developers went the monochrome path.

It plays worse, the movement feels slow and jerky unfortunately.

But generally it's no shame for me. No classic either. It's one of the games that was very popular on other other platforms (like River Raid or Boulderdash) but not on Speccy.
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by Ralf »

Another disappointing conversion is Street Fighter 2.

Image

Yes , there is also Street Fighter 1 and it's nothing special on Spectrum. But it was also nothing special on arcade so no feel of disappointment.

But Street Fighter 2 was an incredible hit and an important game in my life. Me and my mate spent many hours playing the PC version or hanging out at arcade saloons playing SF2 or watching other people playing.

And many years later I learnt that it existed on Spectrum too.

It looks good, actually the sprites are big and detailed.
But it plays terribly. It's very slow but it's not the worst thing.

The bad thing is that original SF2 was controlled with joystick and 6 buttons - light/medium/strong x hand/foot attack.

On Spectrum you have one attack button and you never know what it will do. There are frames drawn for special attacks but you never know how to make these attacks. So it plays like a completely random game.

A lost opportunity unfortunately :(
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Re: Worst arcade conversion

Post by PeteProdge »

Ralf wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 9:16 pm There are frames drawn for special attacks but you never know how to make these attacks. So it plays like a completely random game.
This describes the arcade original, in my eyes. Never been a fan of Street Fighter 2 in any version.
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