The Original is NOT Always Better!

[Koh]

The thread to talk about remakes and ports, which you found better than the original release.

First, I must start with the GBA ports of FF4, FF5 and FF6.  There's a loud group of people that disliked what happened to the OST with these, because of the GBA soundchip, but I actually find a few tracks of each sound a lot BETTER than the original SNES version.

FF4, the Final Battle Theme.  It's faster, more blood-pumping and more urgent sounding.

FF5, Musica Machina, sounds more mystical and tribal with the new sounding drums in the background.

FF6, the Battle Theme.  I can't tell if the tempo was changed, but it definitely sounds more complete than the SNES original.  The original version is too quiet and doesn't have as much going on as the GBA version, and doesn't pump me up for battle as much.

All the PSP versions of the 2D FF games are without a doubt the definitive versions of the games.  They have proper rebalancing (mostly in FF1 and FF2; it no longer takes years to grind, and the hit-rate calculation error has bit fixed.), lots of extra content to play around with, and for FF4's case, you get a game (The After Years) that was originally DLC The Game in a complete package with bonus content.

Super Mario All-Stars on SNES.  The worlds look a lot more colorful and alive with all the panorama and enhanced palette.  There's no contest for which world I'd jump (pun totally intended!) into.


Also, there's a save feature.  That automatically makes these better than the original, because you don't have to leave your console on all night!  Lol.

That's off the top of my head for now, but I'll remember more later~  Go for it peeps!

[miyabi95_]

The GBA version of ALttP might be one of the most accurate to the original ports out there, with a few extra features of course (but unfortunately most of the extras required multiplayer capability, which i never had). overall, it plays exactly like the SNES version and uses most of the same sounds and music (at surprisingly great quality, iirc).

soooo...with that said I'm quite frankly not sure which one i like better hahaha

[Davy Jones]

The remakes of Wind Waker & Twilight Princess are definitely better than the originals due to updated HD graphics and some tweaks like faster sailing.

[Koh]

Oh, the Kingdom Hearts HD Remakes. More specifically, the KH1 HD remake and the Birth By Sleep HD Remake. The latter takes a portable title and puts in on a console in HD, so you can't go wrong there. But the former takes the first game, and fixes the asinine controls to be more like Kingdom Hearts 2. You don't have to use L1 and R1 to control the camera or stop dead in your tracks to cycle through the menu to interact with anything, it's the use of the right analog stick and triangle respectively. SO much better! Plus everything looks crisp and clear instead of blurry, so that's always nice.

->

[psychospacecow]

There's nothing wrong with Chrono Trigger, but the DS port does make it a lot more convenient.

[Koopaul]

Usually in video games the remake is better and very rarely is it worse. The opposite is true in movieland.

[DioShiba]

Okay so before anyone brings it up for obvious reasons: Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are by far the top tier remakes to their original counterparts.

Obvious reasons include better graphics and more pokemon but, there's an expanded story, brand new areas as much as some familiar ones in Kanto that weren't in GSC due to technical limitations, and pokemon follow you.


Honestly, out of all the pokemon remakes this one is the best out of all of them.

[Koh]

I thought FireRed and LeafGreen were pretty good too. Fixed everything wrong with the broken Gen 1, lol.

[Goemar]

Bionic Commando Re:Armed. Though the sequel (non-remake) kinda really sucked.

[Koh]

Oh, I thought Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland was pretty good. NES game looked and sounded nice and all, but it was nice to see everything with more color and smooth animations. There are some GBA tracks I find to sound better than the original.

Puyo Puyo Tsu has a shitload of ports, standing as the most ported game of all time. But the best ports would be a tossup between the Saturn version and the PS2 version. The PS2 version has everything that came with previous versions of the game, and filtered sprites to look less blocky at higher resolutions, but the Saturn version has better voice acting I feel, and the better soundtrack (the PS2 version uses the PS1 version's OST).

Puyo Puyo 1 has a shitload of ports too. Best version is the PC Engine version, because it has full voice acting and extended cutscenes on the Hardest difficulty setting.

Puyo Puyo 4's definitive version is the Dreamcast port. Higher resolution sprites and higher fidelity sound compared to the PS1 version, and the N64 version is probably the worst, when you take into consideration the capabilities of the N64 and the limitations of the GBC and that version.

Puyo Puyo Sun is a tossup, but the definitive version is probably the PC version because of the Tournament Mode.

Puyo Puyo Fever's definitive version is easily the DS version, because they fixed the script and its typos on the other versions, added a bit more flair with a map system, and also has an 8 Player Mode that can be used with CPUs as well.

Azure Dreams is an interesting case, because its two versions (PS1 and GBC) are like entirely different experiences. The PS1 version has 40 floors of the Monster Tower, about 50 monsters and more of a focus on town building and relationships with one of the 7 or so girls. The GBC version, however, has 30 floors + Floor of the Sky + 99 Basement floors of the Monster Tower, boss fights, about 100 or so monsters, and more of a focus on the dungeon crawling. I'd say they're both good as their own games.

[Kriven]

I guess I can't really compare because I haven't gotten around to playing the original, but Klonoa Wii is pretty damn awesome.

[DioShiba]

I thought FireRed and LeafGreen were pretty good too.  Fixed everything wrong with the broken Gen 1, lol.

I agree, FR/LG did a good job at fixing the problems with generation one. Although I have to say that it's still kind of a second to HG/SS just because gen 4 added so much more to what wasn't in Generation 2.

What I did like in FR/LG was the addition of the sevii islands and some of the expanded lore. That made things pretty awesome in its own way.

Far as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire however I feel that I'm at odds with that one. Sure, 3D graphics, soaring and more secret bases were great. But they were too bloody easy and missed some features that could have been carried over from Emerald too.

[Goemar]

Really wasn't a fan of Nightmare in Dreamland. The NES original was just beautiful.

Oddworld is probably one of the best remakes I think ever made. Not sure if Shadow of the Beast counts as it's really a reboot

[Koh]

From what I've seen Tomb Raider Anniversary is a good remake of the original Tomb Raider. It doesn't just update the graphics and stuff, but also adds new content, new mechanics like the grappling hook (and quick time events, ugh xD), and you got an Angelina Jolie based Lara Croft, lol.

[miyabi95_]

I guess I can't really compare because I haven't gotten around to playing the original, but Klonoa Wii is pretty damn awesome.

the biggest difference would be the graphics. all the 2D sprites used in the original game were revamped for a 100% 3D game. even though i've never gotten far in either game, they're not much different otherwise. the only thing i despise about klonoa wii would be the voices, but iirc you can change them to JP voices.