Wow, this is a really great post, Bill. I've been thinking all day about the issues that it raises!
As I've often declared, I have very little actual experience in actual arcades. Sure, I'd play the odd arcade machine in Pizza Hut and made the occasional trip to arcades in the mall, but 99.9% of my gaming experience has been at home in front of a computer. What that means is that I often have only played the arcade game as it was "interpreted" for a home computer like the Commodore 64 or Amiga, or later via MAME. Even though MAME allows us to emulate actual arcade ROMS, I think it's arguable whether, even with the benefit of an X-Arcade, this setup really compares to playing the original games on the original arcade hardware.
One game that sticks out in my mind is Commando for the C-64 and Ikari Warriors for the Amiga. I've never even seen the arcade games these were based on, though I enjoyed both of them at home. From what I've heard, the C-64 version of Commando was sufficiently different (especially in terms of music) that it's really a new game. I would also add Arkanoid to this list--I was actually surprised to see an Arkanoid arcade machine years after I'd been playing the game on my Amiga. However, I always thought the arcade version of Bubble Bobble was better than the Amiga port, as was the Popeye arcade game compared to the C-64. And Battlezone and Robotron never appealed to me in the least until I was able to play them as intended, with the dual-joystick configuration with my dual X-Arcade. Suddenly I saw why these game were hits in the arcade.
I also played a Spelunker game on MAME that I felt was vastly inferior to the C-64 version. Even though it had "better" graphics, it was harder to control with precision, which (as everyone knows) is critical in that rather difficult platformer. I also noticed that the C-64 version of Green Beret (or Rush'n Attack) wasn't necessarily "better" than the arcade version, but it had a distinctly different feel that I'd come to love. The arcade version just never quite right after all that time spent behind the C-64's version.
At any rate, I know in my experience I've often preferred to emulate a port of a game rather than the original arcade game via MAME. However, I don't think that will be the case when it comes to the arcade Pac-Man vs. the, uh, imperfect port on the Atari 2600.
Wow, this is a really great post, Bill. I've been thinking all day about the issues that it raises!
As I've often declared, I have very little actual experience in actual arcades. Sure, I'd play the odd arcade machine in Pizza Hut and made the occasional trip to arcades in the mall, but 99.9% of my gaming experience has been at home in front of a computer. What that means is that I often have only played the arcade game as it was "interpreted" for a home computer like the Commodore 64 or Amiga, or later via MAME. Even though MAME allows us to emulate actual arcade ROMS, I think it's arguable whether, even with the benefit of an X-Arcade, this setup really compares to playing the original games on the original arcade hardware.
One game that sticks out in my mind is Commando for the C-64 and Ikari Warriors for the Amiga. I've never even seen the arcade games these were based on, though I enjoyed both of them at home. From what I've heard, the C-64 version of Commando was sufficiently different (especially in terms of music) that it's really a new game. I would also add Arkanoid to this list--I was actually surprised to see an Arkanoid arcade machine years after I'd been playing the game on my Amiga. However, I always thought the arcade version of Bubble Bobble was better than the Amiga port, as was the Popeye arcade game compared to the C-64. And Battlezone and Robotron never appealed to me in the least until I was able to play them as intended, with the dual-joystick configuration with my dual X-Arcade. Suddenly I saw why these game were hits in the arcade.
I also played a Spelunker game on MAME that I felt was vastly inferior to the C-64 version. Even though it had "better" graphics, it was harder to control with precision, which (as everyone knows) is critical in that rather difficult platformer. I also noticed that the C-64 version of Green Beret (or Rush'n Attack) wasn't necessarily "better" than the arcade version, but it had a distinctly different feel that I'd come to love. The arcade version just never quite right after all that time spent behind the C-64's version.
At any rate, I know in my experience I've often preferred to emulate a port of a game rather than the original arcade game via MAME. However, I don't think that will be the case when it comes to the arcade Pac-Man vs. the, uh, imperfect port on the Atari 2600.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com