5 Bad Arcade Ports To Consoles You Need to See to Believe

[@buckeyered80]

I can’t believe they even attempted Double Dragon on the Atari 2600.

[@Barney_rubble983]

I had that game back in the day I was so pumped when I got it I remember looking at the box in awe in the back of the car on our way home. What a let down

[@thethiefhistorian3873]

I mean, what do you expect when you get Double Dragon for the 2600? I mean if your a kid back then, I get it. It probably was really exciting, but it’s the 2600.

[@enfieldjohn101]

In its heyday, Atari tried everything for the 2600. There are playable prototypes and demos on websites like Atariage that are quite fun. Many of them required you to use your imagination and the box art and manual to make sense of what you were looking at.

[@0u73rh34v3n]

5:00 - Game Boys back then suffered from ghosting issues on screen which made fast gameplay quite tricky to see. Maybe that’s why they slowed it down?

[@Lorfarius]

Golden Axe on the Master System wasn't meant to be even possible, it was a real technical achievement for its time. The reason for things like the lack of 2 player was down to resources and they did the best they could.

[@TheWarriorFrenzy]

Master System's Golden Axe was amazing for what it was able to do. Nice big sprites and playable. A little slow but it worked if you couldn't afford a Genesis quite yet.

[@gashmcnash3537]

We want two player dammit!!

[@modesto777]

I enjoyed it very much, it was too easy and too short, but it was a very good game being a sms game.

[@jediknightgeo]

It may have been a technical achievement at the time but a technical achievement doesn't equal a good port. Fatal Fury Special on the Game Gear is a technical achievement. Not only did they get it on the handheld, albeit with certain omissions, but the gameplay, graphics controls and sound are still pretty damn top notch and was a great port overall. Resident Evil 2 On the N64 is another port that was a real technical achievement that sacrificed EXTREMELY little to get 2 CD's worth of content onto a cart and still looks and plays fantastically.

[@adultmoshifan87]

They still could’ve made it more like the Master System port of Streets of Rage!

[@chrissawyer1484]

When I saw Altered Beast, I thought the Master System was version was coming up. Never even knew about the Famicom version.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Donkey Kong and Pac-Man on Atari 2600 were SO BAD!! LOL But I guess now they are so bad, they're good ...or at least a curiosity.

[@johnhancockretro]

MetalJesusRocks while Pac-man looked bad, as a kid I remember playing it a lot. There are now some great homebrew ports of both that correct many of the shortcomings.

[@Miakel]

Could not agree more! I could only imagine the disappointment of the kids who got these game expecting the arcade in the home.

[@zenitpro]

@@johnhancockretro I got a pac-man copy for the 2600 on my birthday back in the day, and I loved it; but, as I was a little kid, I had no idea what dud it was compared to the arcade version! 😁

[@AunCollective]

Apparently I'm not the only one to like Golden Axe for SMS, but I also had a lot of DOS ports of these classics too. I remember the DOS version not being entirely awful but played worse than the SMS version.

[@Laserdreamz]

Loved the Master System version of Golden Axe, when it was all that you could get it was excellent, love the intro/ending stills too. Not bad imo, great at the time - real bad, PC Engine CD version!

[@pigs18]

Came here to say the same. PCE version looks and sounds like a Master System game.

[@albertodiez4215]

This versión has good graphics but The control was some bad. But for master system was a good game

[@joeberben1982]

Agreed, also loved a few other ms ports, Shinobi and Double Dragon were both great too

[@OldAussieAds]

I agree. Back in the day, I could tell this didn't quite live up to the arcade, but for me it still worked and I had a ball. And trust me, I didn't accept any old crap. E.g. Back to the Future 3 on Sega Master System.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

I had the Master System version of Golden Axe and loved it. If you were stuck on a Master System it was solid

[@bianodias2000]

It was the first iteration of Golden Axe I played and for that reason I was crazy about it.

[@anthonydavies2076]

Yeah I loved that game too

[@Barney_rubble983]

Master system was so cool

[@naturekid1335]

Agreed

[@afriend9428]

*I was happy with it!*

[@adm712]

Donkey Kong Junior on the 2600 is not only the worst arcade port on the system, it just may be the worst game I've played period in 43 years of collecting

[@bassguitari928]

I learned to appreciate the Intellivision version of Donkey Kong when it was one of only a handful of games I had for the system when I first started out retro collecting. Since most of the other games required two players (typical of early Intellivision titles), DK got a lot of play. I still like to fire it up to burn 10 or 15 minutes. Just yesterday I hit almost 100,000 points on level 4! 😁

[@marcellachine5718]

Golden Ax on the Sega Master System is very good for what it is on such limited hardware. Oh and btw the barbarian is the best character hands down.

[@muffinboymcgee7411]

Oh, come now, the Master System port of Golden Axe has its reasons and it's an impressive effort for the hardware. The truly abysmal Golden Axe port is the one on the PC Engine CD, which has butt ugly graphics, janky gameplay, ludicrously poor sound effects, and absolutely no excuse for any of it.

[@TyG2k9]

Pac-Man, Donkey Kong Jr., and Kung Fu Master for the 2600 were all horrible IMO. And this is not in hindsight. I ALWAYS thought those games were terrible even as a little kid in the early 80s.

[@victorc2869]

Great video! I believe one of the BIGGEST challenges for ports to consoles and home computers (apart from hardware) was the fact that most arcades were designed with the monitor on its vertical position. This was an ingenious way to get more pixels available for platform games... so games like donkey Kong suffered... you could only fit 4 or 5 platforms on a horizontal monitor.

[@mattb9664]

Although its not a very good game to begin with, Revolution X never got a proper home conversion. Every single home version was bad in some type of way between looking bad, or sounding bad..and generally not having light gun options for control. I played the Genesis version and it was just terrible. I bought the PC version a few years later thinking it would match the arcade and it also was bad. MAME never really ran the revx romset properly until 2002ish...so that was a long we we all had to wait until being able to play it at home. Now we take it for granted and it runs accurately and flawlessly in MAME.

[@chibisf4]

I was an Amiga kid and unlike the C64 we got a lot of terrible arcade ports. At least we had the incredible Marble Madness. :)

[@patsfan4life]

chibisf4 yeah c64 > Amiga

[@MrRick693]

Golden axe made me feel like I had an arcade in my room back in the day. Lol

[@JustMe99999]

It's amazing that the Intellivision Donkey Kong is worse than the VCS version.

[@TonimanGalvez]

Master System can have two options, for games like Golden Axe the characters can be big but move to the char, the other option is like Alien Storm, with small sprites, moves smooth but it does not resemble the arcade. I always thought that the problem with the Master System version was the memory/rom size (512k) but Megadrive version is 512k as well.

[@launchedkode]

It’s a bit choppy is golden axe on sms but it’s a solid game and you get over that initial inferiority pretty quick. it gets better as it goes along

[@Sprocketjoo]

Golden Axe in Master System was the best 8-bit by far. Fantastic game.

[@Yosikuma]

I grew up with a C64, and as much as I love it -- and I do! -- we got some crappy arcade ports. While Double Dragon for the system was pretty bad, Vigilante and Ikari 3 are so bad they have to be seen to be believed.

[@GEOFFHANSON2009]

The SNES port of Pit Fighter was god awful lol. It was the 1st SNES game I rented as a kid. It was bad lol!

[@shaolingamer7316]

The only Double Dragon port I like is the Gameboy Advance version. A phenomenal remaster!

[@donaldsmith5667]

ShaolinGamer totally agree

[@openskiesmedia]

The original arcade game has not held up well. The GBA version is much better.

[@mtgpackrat7945]

Double dragon for the commodore 64 was pretty god awful as well. Good luck finding even a working copy of that these days.

[@se7enfoot]

i wonder if there are enough examples to do a video of skewed arcade ports. Donkey Kong (1992) on game boy is a great example of an updated port. Has 4 levels but then turns into a completely different game.

[@msbae]

Bad ports I have played... Centipede (Atari 2600) Crystal Castles (Atari 2600) Defender (Atari 2600) Hat Trick (Atari 7800) Pac- Man (Atari 2600) Pole Position (Atari 2600) Q*Bert (Atari 2600) RoadBlasters (NES) Zaxxon (Atari 2600) There are probably many more, but these are the ones that come to mind right now...

[@patsfan4life]

Lord Publius Centipede is not that bad relatively speaking.....

[@msbae]

The Atari 2600 version of Double Dragon should have never existed. The INTV version of Donkey Kong was pretty laughable. I'd re-sell my copy, but there isn't much demand for Intellivision games. Not even when they are Complete-in-Box.

[@patsfan4life]

Lord Publius yeah it was a real niche console

[@darranwigg3722]

My mum used to work in a small restaurant cafe called Tasty Take here in Lowestoft, just past where you would order food, they had arcade machines, three usually as not much space, I remember how good it would be to go in there and find a new one, Golden axe was one of my favourites, they also had the following ones at different times, qix, hyper sports, track and field, hunchback, teenage mutant hero turtles. I used to ask mum if she could let me have a few chips when the boss wasn't around, sorry mum.

[@mamoruisamu1]

Pretty rough. Pac Man for the 2600 has been covered a good bit (although I didn’t mind it growing up). Gold Mine...now that brings back some memories. Safety and good health to you, John.

[@lemmyhead8578]

You went to the Goldmine in Redding too!? Dude! I used go there after football practice every day when I was playing at Shasta College. My laundry was funky, but I got my initials on several high scores!

[@michaeldemers2716]

I love the black and white Centipede/Millipede. One of my favorites.

[@yiffytimes]

10 Yard Fight NES is downright horrible while the arcade version is good

[@JeffBailey1999]

Cool video John! Zaxxon and Congo Bongo were both pretty bad on Atari 2600. I totally get the limitations but almost wonder why they even tried lol

[@redstratus97]

It looks like when you die in the 2600 DD game that you turn into a dog? lol!!

[@johnny-becker]

Keeping in mind that there really was no Nintendo or Sega to rival Atari during it's 2800 era, no port of arcade should be put onto either three eras of Atari. It would look just too embarrassing from it's arcade counterpart.

[@InglebardGaming]

I agree with some of the sentiments expressed below that SMS Golden Axe isn't that bad. Knowing the capabilities of the hardware I think they did a decent job, not an amazing conversion, but not a terrible one. I mainly played as Ax Battler so I personally didn't mind so much he was the only character, but I could definitely see it being disappointing for people that preferred Tyris or Gillius. I also second that the PC Engine CD version of Golden Axe is an awful mess that was way more of a let down than the SMS version.

[@panosgerontas9723]

Golden Axe for the Master System a bad port????? I dont think so!

[@philwalkercuriousmind]

I disagree re Golden axe. I thought master system version was a good effort for its scaled down capacities. Also how about megadrive double Dragon for a so bad you can't believe it port ? Atrocious.

[@luisg.407]

I knew the Atari and Intellivision were horrendous even as a kid. How can one see Pacman for Atari 2600 and think you even got an acceptable port. You had to really use your imagination as a kid with the Atari. The NES was better by far but I still knew they weren't gonna replicate the arcade experience to a tee. They just had to make an acceptable port like Double Dragon. Double Dragon wasn't gonna be exactly like the arcade but it's still a good single player game. We might not have gotten the co-op we expected but at least Jimmy was the boss after Wily. But Altered Beast and Shinobi for example on the NES were seriously horrendous. Lol Great video bro. Keep em coming. ❤

[@donaldsmith5667]

Great video. I found the 2600 port of millipede pretty boring graphically. Add to that PacMan for the 2600. I did enjoy the 2600 version of Galaxian and Ms. PacMan. Mind blown on the Famicom Altered Beast port, didn’t realize it existed.

[@patsfan4life]

donald Smith 2600 millipede very playable tho

[@rbtrbj]

I agree with you about Intellivision Donkey Kong. Out of the early consoles I play the ColecoVision port is far ahead in first followed by the 2600 port and finally Intellivision. And one bad port of a great arcade game that I'd like to mention is Mr. Do for Atari 2600.

[@scottishgamer7210]

That's best Donkey Kong ever made is on the Intellivision

[@ChrisDreher]

Agree that the original Donkey Kong for Intellivision is terrible. However, as John Hancock mentions, there are homebrew versions of Donkey Kong for Intellivision that excellent.

[@telengardforever7783]

When I was a kid, I didn't understand how "ports" worked. I begged and begged for "Side Arms: Hyper Dyne" for Christmas not realizing the Commodore 64 port of the arcade game was going to be a fraction of the original game. It didn't help that the advertisements for the C64 game were screen shots of the arcade machine. Anyhow, when I loaded that game on my Commodore 64 on Christmas day, I got a harsh lesson in how ports really worked.

[@mikemr8340]

Robocop for NES was really bad

[@scottishgamer7210]

Nope your wrong its the best Robocop game

[@mikemr8340]

Shinobi NES too

[@allthatsmagic06]

Pac-Man on The Atari 2600 Horrible port until they fixed it by creating MS.Pac-Man later on

[@patsfan4life]

UNO ONE MAN'S MAGIC lol yeah they fixed it alright

[@purplehaze2342]

Golden axe on the master system is a pretty good port

[@chasemcclure6163]

The 2600 Millipede port is SO good

[@patsfan4life]

Chase McClure agreed

[@jonfjeldstad4566]

Street Fighter 2 for the commodore 64. Biggest disapointment in my life so far

[@BURRITO44]

Love your awesome channel !! You are the absolute best !! Another great video !!

[@bruceowens4764]

if i close my eyes and listen to your voice i hear John C Reilly

[@jackytreehornsghost]

When I look at his face I see John C Reilly.

[@dionr1168]

The original Mortal Kombat on SNES should top the list. It has *no blood* and *censored Fatalities.*

[@mattpike7268]

The gameplay wasn't butchered, that's not bad enough for this lol.

[@ramgladore]

I used to think the NES version of TMNT was OK but lame compared to the arcade version. But then I saw all the PC ports and thought maybe it wasn't so bad. lol

[@AngryCalvin]

I like the Amiga port. It comes the closest to the arcade version.

[@profjoaofaria]

Great video overall! Thank you man for you great work with this channel.

[@catvideojogos]

I just Love to Play Double Dragon at a local pub call "The museum" Love that place....!!

[@retropuffer2986]

Coleco, which was handling the ports of Donkey Kong, purposely made the game crap since they had their own Colecovision they were promoting. Even though Colecovision had better specs the intellivision version still could of had more levels and more refinement.

[@patsfan4life]

Retro Puffer this is a myth.....

[@JustMe99999]

Then why is the VCS version better than the Intellivision version?

[@dudlydjarbum2045]

Dragons Lair stands out to me. Most of the ports were not so hot. I used to have it on nes and was happy to part with it. Picked it up on steam and am much happier.

[@patsfan4life]

Dudly Djarbum NES port of DL is legendarily bad..... not even really an attempt to port the actual game

[@pliniomsann]

Golden Axe is not that bad for a 8 bits console. It’s an average game.

[@jasonlovell3159]

im floored. !! im 1:13 seconds into the video and tears are in my eyes... thank you. !! i used to visit the Gold Mine in Redding as well some summers when i would stay with my aunt and grandma. i lay in bed at night and still hear the arcade cacophony of sounds all combined. ! sigh, those were the days.

[@chrismacias305]

Don't forget when Capcom excluded Guy on the Super Nintendo version. They made it just a one player game, skipped the industrial stage, and replaced Roxy and Poison with Billy and Sid. Might not have been their fault.

[@gabrielgoldsztajn3265]

Huh, I didn't remember the SMS version of Golden Age being that crappy. :(

[@generalzod7959]

The genesis ports of golden axe and altered beast are nearly identical to their arcade versions. It was at that time, I realized the days of arcades were largely numbered. Sure, there are still some arcades here and there but, that's mostly in large cities where there's a large enough population that can keep those places profitable.

[@JustMe99999]

And there aren't any new arcade machines being released. Dead industry.

[@GumbaFez]

Sorry cant compare gameboy to an arcade port

[@duoge9139]

The millipede port was made by accolade, the same guys who made bubsy

[@wmccartney607]

"What could possibly go wrong?"

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

The NES port of Athena was just bloody awful.

[@scottishgamer7210]

Nes port is the best game ever made

[@riversart2030]

San Francisco Rush on the PS1 is terrible. I remember buying it when I was a kid cuz I loved the arcade version and also played the N64 version at a friend's house. I was so disappointed. Bad graphics, long load times, less tracks. The N64 version is so much better in every way.

[@matthewnikitas2904]

Donkey Kong looks almost like Godzilla in the intellivision version

[@jyrilaaksonen4065]

Few comments about these games Double Dragon: This was also awful in C64(Bad controls) and Amstrad(The first version. They had to release another version because of complaints. Re-release is same crappy first version of that game) Millipede: It was like someone coded that in basic. I'm sorry but I laughed when I saw that Altered Beast: This was cream of the crap. Truly awful. This was rock bottom :'D

[@mrmaxaxl]

I love Golden Axe on the SMS!!!

[@MVLGAMING]

Wow that Famicom Altered Beast port is so tiny! (Gets out a magnifying glass!) What were they thinking!?

[@rynomclaughlin1595]

Obviously the Famicom couldn't handle larger sprites at the time

[@Hektols]

About the Master System Golden Axe... Was there a difference in Ax Battler's power and speed depending on the magic you chose at the beginning? Because if it wasn't it wouldn't have make sense to choose a magic other tha Fire, that allowed to take more potions.

[@m.k.b.3880]

I got a laundry list of them, WORLD HEROES on Sega Genesis in all caps Art of my fighting on genesis (USA), burger time Atari vcs, and that's just the tip of the iceberg my friend

[@MattMcIrvin]

I was sure you were going to bash 2600 Donkey Kong, with its gingerbread-man Kong. But 2600 DK has gameplay that is not bad, if simplified from the original. DK doesn't look like himself but Mario looks enough like Mario.

[@patsfan4life]

Matt McIrvin there’s a hack where DK is a true Gingerbread man, it’s Christmas themed it’s great

[@BigAL68xyz]

One of my all-time favorite arcade games was Captain America and the Avengers. My brother got it for his NES, and it wasn't even really a port. It was a one-player side-scroller that seems to have been merely inspired by the arcade game. I tried the SNES version, and while it was a port of the arcade and it had two player capability, it had the most dreadful controller response and blank screen pauses between levels that seemed to last forever. I was really glad I didn't buy it.

[@mikemumper881]

I feel like the Atari 2600 Pac-Man should have been at the top of the list. Unless it already got a lifetime achievement award.

[@jsttv]

I bought Double Dragon in 1993 w/high expectations, and I was majorly disappointed. I still have the game, but I find the game more useful as a conversation piece. LOL!

[@michaelsegal3558]

In the gameplay of Millipede there were no spiders but I have the NES version and on that version there’s like a spider like every few seconds and yet not one in the game play shot shown in the video

[@OrdoNekro]

I was so disappointed with Centipede/Millipede for gameboy. I loved the other volumes like Asteroids/Missile Command and Galahad/Galaxian. How did they mess that up so bad?

[@donaldsmith5667]

ordo nekro the asteroids port is pretty solid

[@afriend9428]

*the 2600 is just as fast and just as frantic amazingly*

[@billkuehling7238]

Thanks John brings back some great memories. And helps pass the time during this crazy situation we are in. Keep the vids coming please.

[@sherekhangamedev]

I never heard of a Famicom Altered Beast port, and in my country we only had famiclone games. Thanks, take care you too John.

[@LoveatFirstHike]

I always wondered why Mario Bros was ported to Atari consoles but not other systems such as Coleco and Intellivision. Would have love to see Arkanoind and Bubble Bobble on Coleco too!

[@smileycop]

Dragons Lair. I was so sad when I played it on the SNES. I was just a kid when I assumed it would have looked the same as the arcade

[@profjoaofaria]

Golden Axe on Master System didn't utilize sprites to the characters and enemies, that duo the limitation of sprite sizes and simultaneous quantity on screen. Instead, it utilizes tiles to fake (simulate) these sprites, and that is the reason of the sluggish movements (the tiles can only move 12 pixel per frame, so it can't be smooth). But overall, IMO, is a good port, I had a lot of fun with it.

[@kchrules775]

The Game Boy port of Mortal Kombat is abysmal. It runs at like a quarter of the original speed, the move and fatality combos were changed, and they removed characters even though there’s only 7 in the original game. Not to mention it’s of course censored like many ports of it. The only upside is you can play as Goro if you beat the game but that’s literally it. Save a direct emulation of the original arcade game, the Genesis port was the go to with snappy gameplay and controls as well as the blood and other cheat codes

[@miaouew]

I love the cute little cat faces in the famicom Altered Beast HUD

[@johnlewisbrooks]

One of the WORST arcade to console ports was a cutesy game called Athena. The arcade version was totally awesome but the NES version was a buggy glitchy mess. Just look up Athena Arcade and then Athena NES and behold the horror! This port was so bad it honestly makes you say 'what the hell were they thinking???'

[@scottmwyman]

Not really relevant but i was so sad when i couldn't get the contra code to work in the arcade.

[@fearanarchy]

NARC on NES?? I do like Altered Beast on SMS. It was when it hit my life , I was like 6 or 7, and I was blown away. That and Rastan bewildered me.

[@johnhancockretro]

Rastan was a good one. I go back and play that version.

[@RickyIcecubes]

I finally got my 10 year old into retro gaming, and had some trouble getting him to understand the difference between arcade games and home console ports. The way it finally clicked was: Me: Do you remember that fancy Bumblebee Transformers you got for Christmas a while back? Him: Yes, it was awesome! Me: Now, do you remember that Bumblebee toy you got in a Happy Meal before Christmas? Him: Yeah, it sucked. Me: The one you got for Christmas is the arcade version, the one you got at McDonalds is the NES version. Him: (mind blown)

[@AngryCalvin]

I had a Atari Activision CD-ROM collection back in the mid-90's. It had the 2600 Double Dragon on it. While the NES version is an all time favorite of mine the 2600 is really bad. The only version I ever had that was worse was the Tiger handheld. Even the PC floppy disk version which is quite bad looks like a masterpiece in comparison.

[@battroidattack]

Mortal Kombat on the original Gameboy.

[@GlenLehane]

Honestly, you could make a whole video just on Double Dragon alone, the 2600 isn't even the worst. Also, Bernstein Bears Vs The Executioner, I like it!

[@MidnightBanshi]

One game they should have never ported to the Atari 2600 was Zaxxon. I think that was the worst port of an arcade to home console I had experienced.

[@SuperNicktendo]

You best take those Intellevision words back or face the wrath of Tommy :-P Great video!

[@burtbackattack]

Street Fighter 2 for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is a woefully bad port, the graphics are actually pretty impressive for such limited hardware but the thing is virtually unplayable.

[@scottishgamer7210]

Wrong that best game

[@Richard-ys9zo]

Double Dragon was one of my early disappointments (Pac-Man 2600) being the first. But as much as everyone seems to have a special place for NES Double Dragon, I hated that port with all my being.

[@Miakel]

The Master System port was actually 2 player! But that had so much flicker it was unplayable at some points

[@Richard-ys9zo]

@@Miakel My friend had the SMS with Double Dragon. I think that was a good port given the consoles limitations

[@davidaltieri1494]

Don't forget the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. The Atari 5200 version was great.

Double Dragon in the arcade was SICK, had no idea they released it for the 2600... AWFUL!!! 😂😂😂

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

The intellivision and atari 2600 ports of Donkey Kong were made poorly on purpose; Colleco had the rights to make ports for those consoles along with their Collecovision console, so they made the former two ports ugly on purpose to make the exclusive pack in version for their console look superior in comparison.

[@patsfan4life]

It’s a myth.....

[@JustMe99999]

There's no actual evidence of that. The Intellivision version is pretty shitty and for some reason worse than the VCS version. The modern homebrew scenes have made better versions for both systems, but I think that has more to do with better tools to develop games than they had back in the day.

[@Wheels8504]

Double Dragon 2 on NES was so much better than the first game.

[@leefischer5814]

The only crap Double Dragon on the NES is the third one in my opinion. The OG NES isn't bad considering it's a completely different game although I had a lot of preparation with playing The Adventures of Bayou Billy😁

[@captaincommando2602]

Mr. Hancock the Master System port of Golden Axe is just okey. The true really crappy port is the PC Engine CD port.