The Original is NOT Always Better!

[Zero Kirby]

Link's Awakening DX compared to the original Link's Awakening. A whole extra dungeon and colours, and a nifty photo-finding side-quest? It's just better. (Besides, what with the 3DS VC release and Miiverse, you can kinda recreate ye olde Game Boy Printer connectivity!)

... Actually for that matter the 3DS rereleases of the N64 era Zeldas. Better graphics, portability, and some nice tweaks to the gameplay make 'em much superior.

... But then there's Snake Eater. The Subsistence release is definitely the better of the two versions on PS2, but the HD Collection is missing some content (and rather GREAT content at that, like ALL OF SECRET THEATRE... but it does run much better, so there's that), and then the 3DS version of the game is about as stripped down as you can get. Sure the 3DS version has a couple improvements like third-person aiming and crouch-walking (which really just serve to make the game easier), but it's missing just about everything outside of the main game. It's an impressive technical feat but not much else - definitely not the best way to experience Snake Eater.

The original Sonic the Hedgehog is also a thousand times better than that travesty released on the GBA.

[miyabi95_]

The original Sonic the Hedgehog is also a thousand times better than that travesty released on the GBA.

Well there is one handheld remake that's pretty good. Sonic Pocket Adventure is pretty much an 8-bit remake of Sonic 2, without the ability to use Tails in single player mode.

Also, the home console port (XBL, PSN) of Sonic the Fighters added one of the cutest (canonical? probably not) Sonic characters in existance:

Spoiler

[BullockDS]

• The Super Mario Advance series, for the most part, is pretty damn superb (sorry, 3, but Yoshi's Island is a game whose graphics are only done justice on a big screen). SMA1 is for those who want an updated version of a game (Super Mario Bros. 2) with lots of bells and whistles, SMA2 is for those who want a truer but well done remake (Super Mario World), and SMA4 is both; on its own the main game (Super Mario Bros. 3) is very close to the original, but the E-reader capability allows for tons of extras. I just wish each SMA game got a different "classic" secondary game instead of just Mario Bros. each time (imagine the likes of Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, Wrecking Crew, etc, having gotten the Mario Bros. Advance treatment).
  
• Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is a favorite of mine as well; the small GBC screen resolution can be a nuisance with the NES-sized graphics occasionally, but this is still a solid remake of Super Mario Bros. 1, with oodles of extra content: Lost Levels being hidden as a bonus, multiplayer, You Vs. Boo, Game Boy Printer stuffs... this was pretty much Super Mario Advance 0.
  
• As mentioned already, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask 3D are great stuff. Majora's Mask 3D's remake is a mixed bag, though, as some of its mainstreaming efforts don't hold up too well; the nerfed Zora swimming and the incredibly intrusive new Bomber's Notebook kinda damper the experience sometimes.
  
• Castlevania Chronicles doesn't do much to Castlevania X68000 beyond giving Simon and Dracula new sprites or an (entirely kickass) arranged soundtrack, but this makes a great entry of the series far more accessible if nothing else.
  
• Mega Man: the Wily Wars upgrades the first three Mega Man titles with flashy Genesis music and graphics (plus subtle touches, like MM1's spikes no longer having disregard for damage invulnerability), and an extra set of stages known as "Wily Tower" after beating the three games.
  

[Koh]

Link's Awakening DX compared to the original Link's Awakening. A whole extra dungeon and colours, and a nifty photo-finding side-quest? It's just better. (Besides, what with the 3DS VC release and Miiverse, you can kinda recreate ye olde Game Boy Printer connectivity!)

Red Tunic for days!

[Goemar]

The 'Advance' SMW was awful. The change from being hit while powered to small to powered, super and then small makes the game an unchallenging bore. Can't remember if they did the same with SMB3 or not.

Not to mention that even though some little changes and improvements were made (though the graphics and sound were slaughtered) these games were full price. Which is just insane.

[Koh]

SMW was already unchallenging as it was, so that's not really a point lol. The Cape was totally fucking broken XD.

SMA2 has Luigi playable and they have their separate platforming abilities ala SMB2 USA, so can't go wrong there. Gameplay diversity helps with replayability.

[DioShiba]

The 'Advance' SMW was awful. The change from being hit while powered to small to powered, super and then small makes the game an unchallenging bore. Can't remember if they did the same with SMB3 or not.

Not to mention that even though some little changes and improvements were made (though the graphics and sound were slaughtered) these games were full price. Which is just insane.

I believe they did the same with SMB3, although that game's level of difficulty got increasingly harder putting aside bosses. Not to mention the E-Reader Levels are pretty dope, I've been playing some of those lately on Virtual Console.

Far as SMW:SMBA2 goes, I don't know about that one. I agree the graphics weren't all that great compared to the SNES counterpart, and the GBA's sound system didn't help much either but I have to admit that I liked the addition to Mario and Luigi having their voices added in and keeping some of the elements from the original japanese game, like how you can eat the dolphins with Yoshi. Then you have the fact that they completely changed the Dragon Coin Mechanic to being permanent collectables until you find them all to get the Peach Coins and how you had to beat all 96 levels before the post special zone effects took place.

There's alot of little things in SMW advance that kind of made it stand up on it's own, so I'd disagree that it was totally awful. Besides how nintendo handled power-ups in these games became norm in the mario games after awhile if I'm not mistaken so I have no complaints.

[Goemar]

If it was released as Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World Advance I'd be a lot more forgiving. But these games were like £30+ a pop. Which is just ridiculous. Sure, they had some nice extras etc but for the price inflation it still came off as pretty lazy.

I mean it happens all the time (I've brought Metal Slug as part of collections and separately - and they aren't even remakes) but Nintendo is normally pretty good with it's bang for your buck and splitting a SNES compilation and then charging full price for each is just a bit shitty.

[BullockDS]

Are you really judging remakes and their prices released in 2001-2004 by 2016 standards?

If they were straight ports then you might have had a point, but straight SNES emulation was absolutely not an option on GBA, so they had to do research and development to manually get these games working right on the platform (and considering how many of the other SNES ports on GBA got fucking butchered like Contra 3, Aladdin, and the Earthworm Jim games, it can't have been terribly easy).

Now if you were to direct these complaints to the "Classic NES Series", I'd absolutely agree. They were no-frills emulated ports of NES games, and some saw other GBA releases in some form or another (Metroid was unlockable in Zero Mission, Pac-Man saw TWO releases on Namco compilations albeit based off the arcade version, Dr. Mario is made totally obsolete by Dr. Mario & Puzzle League which came out later plus was part of WarioWare as Dr. Wario, others were available as e-Reader titles at a fraction of the cost, etc). THESE were goddamn shameless.

[Kriven]

Robirdo is worth full price erryday.

Not to mention that the ports were otherwise enhanced... SMB2 featured the Yoshi Egg collectibles, SMW saw general changes and enhancements throughout, Yoshi's Island had at least eight new levels, and SMB3 had what? 100 new levels, and the ability to access power-ups and abilities not featured in the native game? They weren't just "Here's some SMB stuff guys, forty bucks plz." They were reinventions.

[Goemar]

Re-releasing a game (in this case part of a compilation) with only a few additions is pretty pants.

I mean Ratchet and Clank on the PS4 was a fantastic remake (as in it was pretty much a whole new game retelling the same story) but it wasn't full price.

R-Type Dimensions added optional new updated graphics and co-op, was nice and cheap.

The Last of Us Remastered bundled in the DLC - also wasn't full price.

Re-releasing an old game and asking full price for it is just greedy.

For games like Ocarina of Time 3D where the whole thing is redone from the ground-up and is significantly improved - then yeah, I don't mind paying for that.

But man, full price for SMB 2 with a few added things and voice clips (hearing 'Lucky' got annoying fast as well) is just a bit balls.

I mean Zero Mission was a fantastic 'remake' of the original Metroid but was completely redone.

It was a different time back then, but today they definitely wouldn't get away with it.


Edit: Yoshi's Island had new levels, but they weren't great and replaced the VS levels. That game was also just not made for the GBA's screen. The fact that Nintendo doesn't seem to want the SNES version to be on the e-store is also highly annoying.

[Kriven]

For games like Ocarina of Time 3D where the whole thing is redone from the ground-up and is significantly improved - then yeah, I don't mind paying for that.

But this is exactly what the Super Mario Advance series is. These aren't emulated ports, they're completely remade and optimized to work with the GBA.

You have way more of an argument if you want to talk about LttP or the DKC Trilogy.

Re: SNES YI on VC: I think it has something to do with licensing involving the Super FX Chip.

[Koh]

LTTP GBA added some nice things too, with the extra dungeon, Hurricane Spin and Four Swords, but all that is only accessible by having someone to link with, which was highly unlikely. They dropped that force on the 3DS version of Four Swords.

[Kriven]

GBA LttP added an extra dungeon?
Guess I have to replay something this summer...

[Ark Kuvis]

Zero Mission really is the perfect example of this, turning the original Metroid near obsolete. Zero Mission was perfect, adding new elements from other Metroid games, expanding the game in multiple ways, and man did it just feel so GOOD to play. It's probably my favourite Metroid game, even over titans like Super and Prime.