Forums > Game Talk > Games ported from DOS that turned out better?
Trixter (8954) on 6/22/2014 7:43 PM · Permalink · Report
Had a conversation with a friend the other day about games that originated on DOS (ie. DOS was the first version developed and/or published), were ported to other platforms, and were better on that platform. Ignoring FM Towns (which was essentially an enhanced PC), here's what we came up with:
- Wing Commander on the Sega CD (full speech for characters)
- Wing Commander on the 3DO (full speech for characters)
- Rise of the Dragon on the Sega CD (full speech for characters, although graphics have less colors)
- Star Control II on the 3DO (full speech, other enhancements)
...and that's about it. But I'm sure people here can think of more; any suggestions?
Terok Nor (42684) on 6/22/2014 8:23 PM · Permalink · Report
3DO Wing Commander is a full remake with entirely new graphics and sound, so maybe shouldn't count. And like Rise of the Dragon, the Sega CD version also loses some color fidelity compared to the VGA original.
How about Railroad Tycoon? The Amiga version uses 32 colors so looks a bit nicer.
Unicorn Lynx (181769) on 6/23/2014 4:45 PM · Permalink · Report
I would definitely count Starflight on the Sega Genesis. Now, I'm usually the last person to prefer any console version over a PC one - I'd even choose a shoddy PC port over a console original. But this is an exception: the console version here looks better and plays smoother, all while retaining the original wealth of gameplay. Also, the original version has an incredibly wicked save system.
Another Genesis-over-PC example is Buck Rogers, but the differences are quite significant for a mere port.
Rola (8482) on 6/24/2014 12:15 AM · Permalink · Report
So the other cases of "original Amiga version looked better" don't fit into this discussion? Even if it was past 1987 and VGA existed already?
Trixter (8954) on 6/24/2014 12:25 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Rola wrote--]So the other cases of "original Amiga version looked better" don't fit into this discussion? Even if it was past 1987 and VGA existed already? [/Q --end Rola wrote--]
Not for the purposes of this discussion :-) There are many examples of games ported to DOS where the DOS version was worse, but my friend and I were trying to come up with games that were ported from DOS to other platforms where the non-DOS ports turned out better.
Oh, hey, I just thought of another one: King's Quest ported to the Apple IIgs. The gameplay and graphics are nearly identical, but the IIgs version has much better music.
Rola (8482) on 6/24/2014 1:45 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Then I can't think of many examples, especially that I'm not knowledgeable enough about the development history...
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel for 3DO had not only full speech, but also added tiny FMV of actors' talking heads.
Does Mac version of Wolfenstein 3D count here?
vileyn0id_8088 (21040) on 6/24/2014 1:25 PM · Permalink · Report
Wolf3D for Mac does have better graphics, but isn't necessarily better overall (all enemies are always facing you... plus they axed Bobby Prince's music for this port).
If we're talking about Mac ports, I'd mention Prince of Persia II: the Shadow and the Flame -- that one was basically identical to the PC original but had higher resolution graphics.
After all these years I'm still ambivalent about the 3DO version of Star Control II. Yeah, it had voice acting, but removed the subtitles (which was kinda inconvenient)... and half of the voice acting itself was kinda too goofy for its own good. They also removed several bits of dialogue that were kind of crucial towards solving key puzzles. Luckily we now have the re-release, which lets you mix-and-match between version features (mostly).
Servo (57069) on 6/25/2014 7:18 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Trixter wrote--] Oh, hey, I just thought of another one: King's Quest ported to the Apple IIgs. The gameplay and graphics are nearly identical, but the IIgs version has much better music. [/Q --end Trixter wrote--] Does it? I thought it was more or less the same, I'm going to have to check that out again now. But a lot of Sierra's AGI games may count on the IIgs or Amiga; While they look pretty much the same, the colors are subtly different. Maybe it's just my preference, but I kinda liked the slight change.
How about World Tour Golf?
Trixter (8954) on 6/27/2014 4:17 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Servo wrote--] How about World Tour Golf? [/Q --end Servo wrote--]
Good catch! Gosh, it looks like every single port of that game was better than the DOS original.
Alex Z (1856) on 6/24/2014 10:21 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Trixter wrote--]
Star Control II on the 3DO (full speech, other enhancements)
[/Q --end Trixter wrote--]
That was a mixed blessing. Sure, the voice acting was superb, but they removed two important clues which made finishing the game without the walkthrough nearly impossible. A problem that annoys the hell out of the current Ur-Quan Masters dev team.
Besides, shouldn't all games that were re-released for Windows also be mentioned here? Usually a Windows release meant moving from floppies to CD and that allowed lots of room for extra goodies. Some of those were in-game (if I remember correctly, King's Quest 6 Windows release had better graphics, full voice acting and cinematics which weren't in the DOS version) and some are extra goodies (like interviews with producers, sound tracks and other stuff).
vileyn0id_8088 (21040) on 6/24/2014 11:40 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Alex Z wrote--]That was a mixed blessing. Sure, the voice acting was superb, but they removed two important clues which made finishing the game without the walkthrough nearly impossible. A problem that annoys the hell out of the current Ur-Quan Masters dev team.[/Q --end Alex Z wrote--] Funny thing - I once fired up an audio editor and actually reconstructed the missing dialogue ("the Source of Juffo-Wup is..." or something to that effect) from other bits and pieces of Mycon speech. It turned out surprisingly well, though it naturally wasn't perfect - don't think it made it into UQM, but you could probably still find it on their forums if you look hard enough.
vileyn0id_8088 (21040) on 6/27/2014 4:15 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Alex Z wrote--]Do you know why they rejected your reconstruction?[/Q --end Alex Z wrote--] Don't know if it even got to the stage of being rejected - it probably just slipped through the cracks.
I didn't think it'd still be an open issue 6 years later, but hey - the official Ur-Quan Masters Remix Pack #4 was released in 2012, 8(!) years after I composed my own contribution to it... so we're still ahead of schedule with this one. ;)
Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) on 6/25/2014 7:47 PM · Permalink · Report
My thoughts are that virtually any game that starts in MS-DOS and then finds itself ported to Amiga, Atari ST, C64 or Apple IIgs prior to the widespread adoption of VGA probably will be a whole lot sexier than on its native platform. You could port it to a multimedia powerhouse and retain CGA graphics and PC speaker bleeps, but why would you?
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/29/2014 6:29 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]My thoughts are that virtually any game that starts in MS-DOS and then finds itself ported to Amiga, Atari ST, C64 or Apple IIgs prior to the widespread adoption of VGA probably will be a whole lot sexier than on its native platform. You could port it to a multimedia powerhouse and retain CGA graphics and PC speaker bleeps, but why would you? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Why? Ask Sierra On-Line.
Rola (8482) on 6/28/2014 4:11 AM · Permalink · Report
Didn't try it personally, but judging by our screenshots Blackthorne for Mac has hi-res sprites, upgraded backgrounds for Sega 32X.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) on 6/28/2014 3:31 PM · Permalink · Report
Blackthorn and Lost Vikings 2 both have two versions with identical gameplay but different graphics -- some platforms get beautiful 2D sprites and some get awful 3D ones.
Lain Crowley (6629) on 6/29/2014 2:58 AM · Permalink · Report
Might & Magic 1 on mac might have been B&W, but you can look at the game window and actually understand what it is you're looking at, which is more than you can say for the black void filled with sharp cutout standees that was the original version. It's not really a port, since i doubt the two versions shared any code, but I know which one looks like it's still playable in 2014.
Or 1994, for that matter.
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/29/2014 6:31 AM · Permalink · Report
Ignoring the fact that "DOS" is not a platform, and a very PC-centric expression, I come to think of Civilization. Amiga version has lots of music, and Amiga AGA version has animated waves. Still, they're bad ports.