cool demakes and backports

fishboneKiller

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ive got a weird appreciation for ports of games to hardware it REALLY shouldnt be on. you know, demakes! what are some demakes and backports you folks like? they can be both official and homebrew. ill start with a few of mine.

Rayman Advance is a real marvel of engineering, while also being one of the worst ports of any game ive ever played. it is really cool to see what is basically a PS1 game running on the GBA, but at the same time, like... come on, you could have done WAY better. they do this thing where, to fit some of the larger graphics on the cartridge, they halve the sprite's resolution, then scale it up using whatever the GBA's equivalent of mode 7 is, and it just looks disgusting. this is the same portable that was able to run an insanely impressive port of Street Fighter Alpha 3, and you're telling me they can't even be bothered to make a pause screen? geez. at the very least, it's a pretty funny port.

Doom on SNES gets a lot of attention, but i've always been more of a Quake woman. as such, Quake 64 has always grabbed my attention, and it's super interesting. it's, understandably, VERY hard to control that game with an N64 controller, but if you can somehow manage to wrangle the controls (and manage without quicksaves) it feels like a completely unique experience. there's a new soundtrack, since they either couldnt license the NIN ost, or just couldn't fit it on the cartridge, and i quite like it. the game also has fancy colored lighting, which adds a TON of atmosphere to an already pretty atmospheric game. my only problem with Q64 is, unfortunately, no 4 player death match, only 2 players. damn!

Hummer Team is a game company that specializes in unlicensed games, but unlike others of their kind they actually put an amount of effort into their work. most famously, they ported Sonic to the NES, plastered Mario onto it, and released it as Somari. one of their cooler projects, however, is a backport of Super Mario World for the Famicom. it doesn't handle the best, the audio is VERY shoddy, and the graphics leave a lot to be desired, but... come on, it's super mario world running on famicom! it's mad impressive despite its issues, and a really fascinating part of bootleg history.
 
I'm not sure if this counts since it was a contemporary port, but I always felt the SNES version of Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers was the definitive version of the game despite the weaker hardware compared to the CPS2 arcade version. Adding in turbo really helped that game a lot, Super feels so slow after coming off of Hyper Fighting.
 
ive got a weird appreciation for ports of games to hardware it REALLY shouldnt be on. you know, demakes! what are some demakes and backports you folks like? they can be both official and homebrew. ill start with a few of mine.

Rayman Advance is a real marvel of engineering, while also being one of the worst ports of any game ive ever played. it is really cool to see what is basically a PS1 game running on the GBA, but at the same time, like... come on, you could have done WAY better. they do this thing where, to fit some of the larger graphics on the cartridge, they halve the sprite's resolution, then scale it up using whatever the GBA's equivalent of mode 7 is, and it just looks disgusting. this is the same portable that was able to run an insanely impressive port of Street Fighter Alpha 3, and you're telling me they can't even be bothered to make a pause screen? geez. at the very least, it's a pretty funny port.

Doom on SNES gets a lot of attention, but i've always been more of a Quake woman. as such, Quake 64 has always grabbed my attention, and it's super interesting. it's, understandably, VERY hard to control that game with an N64 controller, but if you can somehow manage to wrangle the controls (and manage without quicksaves) it feels like a completely unique experience. there's a new soundtrack, since they either couldnt license the NIN ost, or just couldn't fit it on the cartridge, and i quite like it. the game also has fancy colored lighting, which adds a TON of atmosphere to an already pretty atmospheric game. my only problem with Q64 is, unfortunately, no 4 player death match, only 2 players. damn!

Hummer Team is a game company that specializes in unlicensed games, but unlike others of their kind they actually put an amount of effort into their work. most famously, they ported Sonic to the NES, plastered Mario onto it, and released it as Somari. one of their cooler projects, however, is a backport of Super Mario World for the Famicom. it doesn't handle the best, the audio is VERY shoddy, and the graphics leave a lot to be desired, but... come on, it's super mario world running on famicom! it's mad impressive despite its issues, and a really fascinating part of bootleg history.
i played a bit fo the ff7 demake. you can buy the best stuff at the start, all weapons and magic have levels, i maxed out most of them before getting a 3rd party member, would have gotten further than the second town but i didn't know where to go. it's supposed to have bosses from the other games hidden around in the world or at least at the end of the game. seemed pretty well constructed for a nes knock off.
 
Oooh, good topic. I’ve played way too much of the Gameboy Color port of Resident Evil. It’s incomplete, but still rad. Honorable mentions to that GBA RE2 demo.
IMG_2823.jpeg

Maybe doesn’t count, but the GBC Metal Gear Solid is pretty rad too. And I kinda prefer the PS1 versions of Tony Hawk 3 and 4 to the 6th gen ones.
 
Shin Megami Tensei I and II on the GBA are weird cases of demakes. The original versions of the games came out on the SNES but remade on PS1. The GBA versions are demakes of the PS1 versions and not the originals since they include the added content and new art style.

SmtSNES.gif

SNES
SMTPS1.png

PSX
SMTGBA.png

GBA

I honestly prefer the GBA ports the most and hope we one day get a translation of SMT II for the GBA.
 
Shin Megami Tensei I and II on the GBA are weird cases of demakes. The original versions of the games came out on the SNES but remade on PS1. The GBA versions are demakes of the PS1 versions and not the originals since they include the added content and new art style.

View attachment 20572
SNES
View attachment 20575
PSX
View attachment 20576
GBA

I honestly prefer the GBA ports the most and hope we one day get a translation of SMT II for the GBA.
hell yes, i LOVE the different versions of smt1. my first playthrough of smt1 was actually played on the gba version, it's super weird... but kinda cool. one thing my friends and i noticed is that it feels like they just took screenshots of the ps1 version and made the "tilesets" for the gba version out of that. while compared to the ps1 version it's a little underbaked, playing it on a real GBA is SUPER cool, it works way better on the tiny screen. for the best experience, try it on the gameboy micro.
Oooh, good topic. I’ve played way too much of the Gameboy Color port of Resident Evil. It’s incomplete, but still rad. Honorable mentions to that GBA RE2 demo.
View attachment 20560
Maybe doesn’t count, but the GBC Metal Gear Solid is pretty rad too. And I kinda prefer the PS1 versions of Tony Hawk 3 and 4 to the 6th gen ones.
oh yeah!!! i remember seeing both the gbc and gba resident evil prototypes and having my mind blown. that shit is absolutely nuts, especially the gbc one. i know it'd never get finished, but even still it's such an awesome oddity.
 
Dark Void Zero
DSiWare game posing as "lost" NES version of Dark Void with few funny quirks, and these days way more remembered than the main game it is based of.

Phantasy Star Zero
In some ways it is an update to the game but basically Phantasy Star Online EP 1 & 2 remade on DS of all consoles. Story, maps, everything in this game is new and it's own, story presentation especially more modern than the grandfather title, but still, Dreamcast/GameCube game sequelized on DS.

Whatever the programmer of Retro City Rampage is smoking
Basically there exists thus far fully functional demakes of Retro City Rampage for older DOS machines, I think 486 target, as well as NES version both made by the creator himself and we will likely still hear about a Game Boy or WonderSwan version.

Pac-Man Championship Edition for NES/FAMICOM
A version of Championship edition fitted to NES, officially released in Namco Collection from few years back. Even programmed to use a special Namco enhancement chip with additional sound capabilities that the game uses for music and such. Overall the limitation birthed a very unique fun version of the game that stands tall and proud as it's own thing.
 
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I know it's not a demake per se but still
This looks sick! Never seen it before, but it’s going on my list. Also reminded me to check up on this work-in-progress GBA port of Mario 64:
I hope N doesn’t crash the party before it’s finished, cause it’s really starting to shape up.
 
I always found interesting when companies began releasing some demake/ports of games made for PS4 on the 360/PS3, we got some really good like MGS V and Titanfall 1, some that were on the middle because they worked very well but with a major graphic downgrade like DAI or Wolfenstein the new order and then some that were borderline unplayable like Black ops 3 and specially Shadow Of Mordor.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the absolute beauty that is the SEGA Master System port of Street Fighter II.

1738641170618.png

It's technically called Street Fighter II'. The apostrophe is often pronounced DASH but no one calls it that or knows why its there. My best guess is that it is meant to reference the full title of Street Fighter II': Champion Edition even though it is not a port of that game.

It is official. At least in the sense that TEC TOY, the developer, had the rights to publish Master System games. However, every source I can find states that they never got the approval of SEGA. They got the license from CAPCOM after giving a demo of the game that they said was running on the Mega Drive. After revealing at the end of the presentation that it was actually running on the Master System, the CAPCOM heads were impressed so they sold them the rights. It only released in Brazil, TECTOY's homeland.

1738642970813.png

The Master System has only two face buttons so the majority of inputs do not exist. Characters only have two moves. Its roster is a unique selection of a few of the characters from Champion Edition. All art is taken from the first version of Street Fighter II but for some reason the select screen art is based off of The New Challengers. What ever art wasn't stolen was a TECTOY original masterpiece.

It doesn't have a proper two-player mode. Instead, it has a single-player mode with three difficulty settings. There is technically a way to play against another person since pressing a button on the second controller during single-player starts a challenge. If the second player wins they continue the single-player mode as the character they selected. To put this into perspective, the first Street Fighter had no selectable characters and yet it still had a dedicated two-player mode.

1738643552584.png


There are no character specific endings to the game and the credits are just taken from The New Challengers with the developers of this port tacked on to the end. Also, according to SEGARETRO, this game took about half a year to make and about 1-2 months was just TECTOY ripping the sprites from the Mega Drive versions of Street Fighter with an emulator.

In general, it is kind of impressive that it runs as well as it does. I've played around with it a little and think that it is definitely worth more as a novelty instead of a quality port.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the absolute beauty that is the SEGA Master System port of Street Fighter II.

View attachment 21290
It's technically called Street Fighter II'. The apostrophe is often pronounced DASH but no one calls it that or knows why its there. My best guess is that it is meant to reference the full title of Street Fighter II': Champion Edition even though it is not a port of that game.

It is official. At least in the sense that TEC TOY, the developer, had the rights to publish Master System games. However, every source I can find states that they never got the approval of SEGA. They got the license from CAPCOM after giving a demo of the game that they said was running on the Mega Drive. After revealing at the end of the presentation that it was actually running on the Master System, the CAPCOM heads were impressed so they sold them the rights. It only released in Brazil, TECTOY's homeland.

View attachment 21306
The Master System has only two face buttons so the majority of inputs do not exist. Characters only have two moves. Its roster is a unique selection of a few of the characters from Champion Edition. All art is taken from the first version of Street Fighter II but for some reason the select screen art is based off of The New Challengers. What ever art wasn't stolen was a TECTOY original masterpiece.

It doesn't have a proper two-player mode. Instead, it has a single-player mode with three difficulty settings. There is technically a way to play against another person since pressing a button on the second controller during single-player starts a challenge. If the second player wins they continue the single-player mode as the character they selected. To put this into perspective, the first Street Fighter had no selectable characters and yet it still had a dedicated two-player mode.

View attachment 21311

There are no character specific endings to the game and the credits are just taken from The New Challengers with the developers of this port tacked on to the end. Also, according to SEGARETRO, this game took about half a year to make and about 1-2 months was just TECTOY ripping the sprites from the Mega Drive versions of Street Fighter with an emulator.

In general, it is kind of impressive that it runs as well as it does. I've played around with it a little and think that it is definitely worth more as a novelty instead of a quality port.
there's so many ports and versions of that one game that it's not a surprise that one of them would slip through the cracks. there's probably more out there that most people don't now about.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the absolute beauty that is the SEGA Master System port of Street Fighter II.


It's technically called Street Fighter II'. The apostrophe is often pronounced DASH but no one calls it that or knows why its there. My best guess is that it is meant to reference the full title of Street Fighter II': Champion Edition even though it is not a port of that game.

It is official. At least in the sense that TEC TOY, the developer, had the rights to publish Master System games. However, every source I can find states that they never got the approval of SEGA. They got the license from CAPCOM after giving a demo of the game that they said was running on the Mega Drive. After revealing at the end of the presentation that it was actually running on the Master System, the CAPCOM heads were impressed so they sold them the rights. It only released in Brazil, TECTOY's homeland.

The Master System has only two face buttons so the majority of inputs do not exist. Characters only have two moves. Its roster is a unique selection of a few of the characters from Champion Edition. All art is taken from the first version of Street Fighter II but for some reason the select screen art is based off of The New Challengers. What ever art wasn't stolen was a TECTOY original masterpiece.

It doesn't have a proper two-player mode. Instead, it has a single-player mode with three difficulty settings. There is technically a way to play against another person since pressing a button on the second controller during single-player starts a challenge. If the second player wins they continue the single-player mode as the character they selected. To put this into perspective, the first Street Fighter had no selectable characters and yet it still had a dedicated two-player mode.

There are no character specific endings to the game and the credits are just taken from The New Challengers with the developers of this port tacked on to the end. Also, according to SEGARETRO, this game took about half a year to make and about 1-2 months was just TECTOY ripping the sprites from the Mega Drive versions of Street Fighter with an emulator.

In general, it is kind of impressive that it runs as well as it does. I've played around with it a little and think that it is definitely worth more as a novelty instead of a quality port.
Yeah, Brazil's and TEC-TOY's unique situations made few things happen, like their version of Duke Nukem 3D on Mega Drive and few other such madlad releases.
 
borderline unplayable like Black ops 3 and specially Shadow Of Mordor
man, I got the PS3 version of Shadow of Mordor for like $5 at target on clearance a year or two after it came out, and I was so close to 100%ing that game but one of (or maybe the very) last missions was straight impossible because there was so much shit and enemies on the screen that the frame rate was like 3 and so the arkham combat mechanics were impossible to get correct because I couldn't tell what the hell was happening. I tried every day for like a week because I had powered through the whole damn game and all the side content already but I finally just gave up. I have a high tolerance for jank in games but I just could not for the life of me finish that one.

a better port in a similar vein is Rise of the Tomb Raider on the 360. I played it recently, it's the same game as the ps4/xb1/pc just with worse graphics.

late era ps2 had a lot of alternate versions of games on the 360 and ps3. a lot of them were the same as the Wii versions. as someone who stuck with the ps2 because we couldn't afford to upgrade I have some nostalgia for a lot of them even if they aren't particularly good and some were outright terrible. 007 Quantum of Solace, Call of Duty 5, Ghostbusters the game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1/2, Alone in the Dark 08, the late Harry Potter games, Rock Band/Guitar Hero, Mercenaries 2, Gundam Dynasty Warriors, Tomb Raider Underworld. I'm sure there were more but I rented and bought a lot of last gen versions of then current games and played them because that's all I had at the time.

as far as stuff I think is cool I think the NES Resident Evil is pretty cool, and was always impressed by the bootleg Super Mario World, Link to the Past, and Pokemon games on the NES too. the latter all play kind of shitty but with some tweaks they'd be solid. I had the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country and I always thought it was pretty cool too to be as good as it is running on much worse hardware.
 
My favorite demake of all time has been Gang Garrison 2, a 2D pixelated version of Team Fortress 2. I used to play it all the time in 2010 when the servers were at their fullest.
It was very addictive and I still thoroughly enjoy it.

Today, the servers are mostly dead, but a small community still schedules sessions on the Discord server. It's such a joy playing it and trolling. It does not have a console port as of today and the world may end before that happens.
 

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