NES Vs. the Vs. System!

A while back, I mentioned that the NES saw its start in the arcades, courtesy of the Nintendo Vs. System. Today we are going to compare the arcade AND the home port variances of all of the American released VS system titles that had NES games for you to enjoy at home. It'll be a good time!
*Some content may be under copyright by others. Fair Use is intended for educational or commentary purposes.*
Twitch: twitch.tv/fortefyre
Patreon: / fortefyre251

[@pharmcat8484]

Nintendo may have exited the arcade market back then, but it makes me smile every time I see MarioKart at my local arcade.

[@Fortefyre]

Yeah, it's nice to see them. I don't know who makes those though.

[@bildo1977]

Almost nobody is talking about the Nintendo Vs. System line of arcade games. Nice to know that someone is trying to raise the notoriety. 👍🏻

[@Fortefyre]

I'll talk about anything that anyone wants :) If you have a topic you'd like me to cover, please don't hesitate to let me know, I'd love to do my own little Fortefyre magic too it!

[@bildo1977]

@@Fortefyre How about talking about Kasumi Ninja for the Atari Jaguar, and the false advertising that occurred in the gaming magazines months after its release? Most anyone that has talked about this game has completely omitted that issue from their review, or didn’t fully do their research. I should know. I used to own the game back in the day and it pissed me off. I was expecting a fuller game with richer experience.

[@Fortefyre]

I think the best way to address it would be to make a video about 10 instances of false advertising in video game history. Would that be of interest to you?

[@stevefields2027]

Shots fired on the 10th algebra teacher. That came outta nowhere like an RKO!

[@Fortefyre]

😅

[@gtssage]

I was a fan of Donkey Kong arcade in 1981, Donkey Kong Junior in 1982, and Mario bros in 1983. The moment I seen Super Mario bros VS arcade in 1985/1986....I was hooked!

[@joe-yuugen]

Thanks for honoring the request

[@Fortefyre]

It's what I do:)

[@ThunderFist1978]

I would love to have a red tent one day and a Unisystem cabinet with a light gun, so every game possible can be played on them. I think my favorite difference is the addition of the bonus round in Vs. Duck Hunt, which allows you to shoot the dog. And if you listen carefully, the music has added effects also, especially in Vs. Hogan’s Alley, where the music is way improved over its NES counterpart. And another Vs. game brought me one of my proudest gaming achievements, when I beat Vs. Castlevania deathless on the PS4. As for games I remember seeing growing up, I remember seeing a few Unisystem and Dualsystem cabinets, along with a red tent at a local bowling alley that had Vs. Castlevania on one side and Vs. RBI Baseball on the other. As for the other cabinets, I remember seeing Vs. Hogan’s Alley, Vs. Duck Hunt (never got to play that in arcade form until I was an adult), Vs. Excitebike, Vs. TKO Boxing, Vs. Golf, Vs. Gradius, Vs. Baseball (never got to play that one in arcade form) and of course Vs. Super Mario Bros. and the two I mentioned earlier. The Vs. version of Super Mario Bros. was the first form I played it in. Edit: Vs. Excitebike does have a bonus round not found in the NES version, that comes every 2 or 3 tracks. It’s basically a series of ramps where you try to jump over trucks, some of which are stacked, and you get a nice bonus for making it to the end of the round before time runs out. Oh, and great news for Urban Champion fans - the arcade version is available on the Switch eshop as part of the Arcade Archives line! It costs $7.99 to download, and like you said, it’s more or less the same as the NES game, though the music is different during the fight scenes, and with added instruments during the tracks that are the same, and it also has a high score table like most other Vs. games, though the title screen just says Urban Champion, not Vs. Urban Champion.

[@Fortefyre]

This is a great response! Thank you for enjoying the video and adding substance to our experience in the comments! I'm so jealous you got to see all of these in real life!

[@joeboo8626]

I forgot the red sit down cabinets existed. Putt Putt in Killeen TX had one with Castlevania in '89-'90. I miss zapper games as well.

[@Fortefyre]

That's awesome!

[@LordTeaboBaggins]

I remember having a VS machine in one of the local convenience stores. Fond memories of Excitebike and Goonies

[@Fortefyre]

Vs Goonies 😭😭😭

[@LordTeaboBaggins]

@@Fortefyre I actually really like the game! Konami really nailed that Spelunker/Lode Runner style game

[@Fortefyre]

@@LordTeaboBaggins it kicked my ass 30 ways to sunday lmfao.

[@mr.milehi9883]

I don't usually take a half hour to watch any video game stuff but this one was worth it. If you can find this old Java phone game not it's a variation of Tetris called Pent. Instead of four pieces, each piece has five. It makes it really challenging and mighty cool. Though the difficulty is unfair and it could have been programmed better. I wish someone would reprogram this because the concept is amazing and super cool.

[@Fortefyre]

I'll have to check it out!

[@NEStalgia1985]

Imagine if the dog was the icon of Nintendo

[@8ullfrog]

Standup dual seems like the perfect solution for screen peekers. I've seen the market for red tops is absolutely insane.

[@Fortefyre]

I can't imagine how expensive they are lol

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

Thanks for putting together and showcasing all the VS games because I didn't realize there were as many as there are. Just wanted to provide more info about VS Castlevania as it's one of my favorite franchises and know both the Arcade and NES versions well. For one you take way more damage in the Arcade than you do on the NES. For example in the NES on on the first and second level normally you would lose 2 units of health if hit by an enemy, 3 units of health on the 3rd level, and 4 units of health by every enemy for the rest of the game. Now, it's been a while since I did a full playthrough of the Arcade but I know for sure on the first level enemies do 4 units of damage right off the bat, but I'm not 100% sure if it increases to 6 and 8 damage later or just stays at 4 units damage. Another difference in Arcade is they greatly reduce your time at each level where you pretty much have to book it to the boss and hope you beat them before the timer runs out on you. Here and there but not too often certain candles that normally held stopwatches just give you a big heart instead. Then finally, after you defeat a boss you get less bonus points thereby making it harder to earn extra lives, pretty much requiring you to uncover all the hidden treasures for any shot at extra lives. Castlevania is already tough as it is but the VS Arcade is so brutal I wouldn't even recommend it for beginners or casuals. 😃

[@Fortefyre]

Well they aren't ALL of them, just the American ones that had a NES port equivalence :P. Turns out there's alot more in Japan! Have you endured the suffering that is Haunted Castle yet? LMAO

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

@@Fortefyre Oh okay thanks for the tip and will do more research on that. But man Haunted Castle? Dude, that game is so busted to where it's like..somebody needs to explain what happened? I pray there's some Japanese interview explaining so in a magazine somewhere that just hasn't been translated to English yet lol 😄

[@michaelbarley7399]

The only one I remember playing in the arcades was Super Mario Bros. When I got it at home, I was ecstatic. I also did remember the arcade version being much more difficult.

[@Fortefyre]

I bet it was game changing!

[@pjw5328]

Couple of notes on these. First, it was possible for the red Vs. cabinets to have two different games loaded. One of our local restaurants had one in their waiting area. It had Vs. Super Mario Bros. on one side and Vs. Stroke & Match Golf on the other. They also had a second red cabinet in the bar area, but that one had Vs. Baseball on both sides. I never saw a standup dual set up with two different games, but if it can be done on one, it can probably be done on the other too. Second, Vs. Slalom cabinets actually came with ski controls attached (not sure if this was all of them or just some). One of my local movie theaters had it in the late 80s and I played it a fair amount. Instead of just using the generic 1 joystick/2 buttons control panel, you actually stood on a pair of skis while holding a pair of custom joysticks. There are pics of these cabs online. You used the joysticks (representing ski poles) to control your speed and leaned on the skis to control your direction. The buttons were on top of the joysticks. It still wasn’t that great of a game, but the extra immersion made it more fun than the NES version at least.

[@Fortefyre]

These are great additions!

[@ThunderFist1978]

The names for the cabinet types are Unisystem for the uprights with one game and Dualsystem for the uprights with two games. It’s probably not the official name, but the sit down cabinets are commonly called red tents because of their appearance. The upside, by the way, to having the same game in both sides of a red tent or Dualsystem cabinet is that you can have up to 4 players in a few games. I know Vs. Tennis is one, where you can play doubles with 2 players to each team.

[@CSanykdotCom]

Regarding Tengen, by 1988 Nolan Bushnell had been gone from Atari for a very long time. He departed in 1980 so, shortly after Atari was bought by Warner. By 1988, Warner had sold the company to Jack Tramiel. Atari/Tengen disliked the 5 releases/year, console exclusivity, and manufacturing exclusivity restrictions that Nintedo imposed on its licensees, so they tried to get around that by manufacturing their own cartridges, and used a clone of the 10NES lockout chip to do so. Unfortunately they did not cleanly reverse engineer the chip, and in fact stole the code embedded on it, violating Nintendo's copyright. As a result Nintendo severed all relationship with Tengen, and they were no longer an official licensee.

[@Fortefyre]

Yep, I believe that!

[@gamingtheologian8515]

Second, I am to graduate this December with my Master's in Philosophy from seminary and then go on to get my PhD with my plan being Christianity and video games, particularly our need for stories. My parents will be down this December and I plan to buy Golf on the Switch, not because it's an awesome game, but because my Dad and I did used to enjoy playing that together.

[@Fortefyre]

That's a great thing to do!

[@pharmcat8484]

Did you ever try to make the most insanely impossible Excitebike courses imaginable? I know I did. At James R.s house. He passed away 2 years ago.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh absolutely, my kids go nuts with it lol.

[@gamingtheologian8515]

And finally, please do Colecovison games and please say something about Ladybug when you do.

[@Fortefyre]

It's totally up to my viewers what I play. But if I do coleco, I'll cover it. I promise.

[@ytguy2010]

I played a few of these games in the arcade in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Some notes: 1. Vs Super Mario Bros - Level 7-4 had a different solution to the maze and was way harder because of that. 2. Vs Dr. Mario - The ending screen after level 20 was different than the NES version. 3. I never saw the Vs Tetris version that you showed in this video. I only ever saw the Atari version which is almost the same as the Tengen NES version.

[@Fortefyre]

Those are great additions, I didn't play them all the way through, so your input is epic!

[@jeffdaigle5487]

What is your highest score on the NES Tetris? I've only been able to break 496k and that kid who broke the game was freaking awesome. Have a awesome day bro!!! PEACE

[@Fortefyre]

I don't know, lol, we just play until we lose or get tired of playing.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

It's one thing for people to point out how modern arcade games don't look any better than modern home console games. It's also another thing when you have a preference for the home console version in terms of looks over the original from back in the day; such as is the case for Ninja Gaiden. However, it's impressive just how unappealing looking the visuals of Versus Tetris are. They don't even have a demake charm to them unlike with Alien Syndrome NES, Mighty Final Fight NES, or even most famously Punch-Out NES.

[@Fortefyre]

Versus tetris is....God aweful.

[@jessragan6714]

I think Vs. Duck Hunt is a more full-featured game in arcades than the home version, and it's not just because you get the satisfaction of blasting that damned dog. Also, was Vs. The Goonies mentioned at all? That never got an NES version per se, but it was available on PlayChoice-10 and Famicom. The Vs. version does what Konami did with Vs. Castlevania, boosting the damage enemies do to you. It was annoying in Vs. Castlevania, but downright game breaking in Vs. The Goonies.

[@Fortefyre]

So I didn't cover playchoice-10 for a reason, because I'd love to do a video on it if anyone is interested in it lol.

[@MCastleberry1980]

A Barcade I go to near me has a vs Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt cabinet. Actually managed to get the Duck Hunt high score last time I went.

[@Fortefyre]

Hell yeah! Nice!

[@MCastleberry1980]

@@Fortefyre resisting the urge to shoot the dog in bonus rounds is difficult lol

[@Fortefyre]

*do it*

[@m0ocow_love783]

oh no Platoon emotional damage 😭

[@Fortefyre]

I died a little inside. I had to play it twice for footage.

[@clintonmeyers7267]

Mach Rider reminds me of Pole Positions games with shooting, Salom also has that Pole Position feel too.

[@Fortefyre]

But bad lmao.

[@rmfjedimaster7962]

You are awesome!! Thank you 🤘

[@Fortefyre]

No you! :)

[@lennonrocks100]

I laughed...I grew up playing golf and have always loved the nes Golf. I still play nes rounds of golf every once in a while. I have heard so many people say how much they hate nes Golf and it makes me laugh.

[@Fortefyre]

It's honestly not a bad game, I'm just bad at it lol.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Aside from VS. Baseball and VS. Tennis; I'd rather just play the NES versions for the others.

[@Fortefyre]

They are all great in their own way, but I believe I would be the same way.

[@NEStalgia1985]

I think you should make a opening video for your episodes. as I Said before I think your onto something good here

[@Fortefyre]

What do you have in mind? Like an intro stinger? I always preferred just jumping into the action, but some of my other videos do have intros like RGGS, Generations, and Series Slayer.

[@johnathanlett4094]

Your commentary on tengen and Atari was a little on the incorrect side. Nolan Bushnell was gone from Atari long before the NES was released in the United States Atari was split in half between Atari computer and Atari games. I believe the name of the man who purchased Atari games was Nakajima. Check out the video that the gaming historian put out a few years back.

[@Fortefyre]

Well yeah, I was just being facetious lol

[@bildo1977]

I don’t know if you own a Nintendo Switch, but Vs. Urban Champion is available to buy digitally for $7.99. Many of Nintendo’s arcade games are available to buy as far as the Arcade Archives series goes. Hell, Vs. Castlevania and Vs. Gradius are both available on all current consoles to buy digitally. Only Atari RBI Baseball, Mach Rider, Dr. Mario, Tetris, Freedom Force, Platoon, Top Gun, Sky Kid, TKO Boxing, and the light gun games in their Vs. form aren’t available to digitally purchase. If I’ve missed any, correct me.

[@Fortefyre]

I didn't realize that, I do own a switch but I rarely touch it.

[@bildo1977]

@@FortefyreBtw, I added to my comment. 🙂

[@Fortefyre]

Duly noted!

[@Tommi1981]

What's up with Urban champ? Original Street fighter! Fighting is bad! Mmkay. Morality Nintendo. What the hey. Outside the bookstore even!! 😂

[@hoagieimpact9189]

I think the two Golf variants are also missing on Switch.

[@AinerPinkElteHyr]

Did you know the the japaness gets the really cool Airwolf the Arcade game for thaire Nes/famicon that Based on the arcade machine And not that strange flying rescue Simulator that the American get ????

[@Fortefyre]

I didnt!

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

A Versus Gradius seems so pointless. Just play the system that version was actually made for in the first place. Heck, the separate Turbografx16 version is quite good; I even prefer its music over the original arcade.

[@Fortefyre]

Absolutely!

[@johneygd]

WoooW i never trought that atari/tengen would becallowed to put baseball and tetris on those vs systems, in fact i trought that only nintendo will put their own games on it and nobody else, let alone tengen.

[@Fortefyre]

And then we have platoon 😂

[@JudgmentStorm]

Tengen was originally licensed by Nintendo, when Gauntlet (not a Vs. game, but it was on PlayChoice 5 & 10) and R.B.I. Baseball first appeared. T&N were still on good terms at the time.

[@roberthunter479]

I might have missed it but did you do Vs. Clu Clu Land? I swear I saw one of those.

[@Fortefyre]

So everywhere I looked, I only found a Japanese arcade release for Clu Clu Land. It's possible someone imported it though.

[@roberthunter479]

@@Fortefyre You might be right on that one. Just thought of another. The first Goonies game. I remember looking everywhere for the cartridge but only saw it in the arcade.

[@BlasphemousMusic]

I thought the lost levels in America was just SM2 in japan?

[@Fortefyre]

Super Mario Bros 2 is an oddity. Those enhanced levels in VS Super Mario Bros, inspired the main infrastructure of Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan. In America we got a reskin of Doki Doki Panic. We did eventually receive the lost levels on the Allstars cart :)

[@BlasphemousMusic]

@@Fortefyre its crazy they thought it would be too hard for the US audience so they reskinned doki doki but im so glad they did as its much better

[@Riz2336]

Even though the graphics are way shittier I'd rather play tengen vs. tetris than vs. platoon

[@Fortefyre]

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