What Are The Best Arcade Ports on the NES?

[racketboy]

Of course, there are a ton of arcade ports, but which ones are actually impressive and hold up well?

[sevin0seven]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

[the King]

I always thought the Nintendo ports like Popeye, Mario Brothers and the Donkey Kong games were pretty accurate. The Data East ports like Burgertime and Rampage jump out in my mind as not being very good.

[sevin0seven]

I always thought the Nintendo ports like Popeye, Mario Brothers and the Donkey Kong games were pretty accurate. The Data East ports like Burgertime and Rampage jump out in my mind as not being very good.

yep. Bubble Bobble too is a great port.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Really good arcade ports to the NES despite its limitations? Here's a list based on my own collection. It omits bad ports and bad games.

1943: The Battle for Midway by Capcom

Bubble Bobble by Taito

Burger Time by Data East

City Connection by Jaleco

Contra by Konami

Donkey Kong by Nintendo

Donkey Kong Jr. by Nintendo

Double Dragon by Tradewest

Double Dragon 2 The Revenge by Tradewest

Gauntlet by Tengen (Atari)

Gauntlet 2 by Tengen (Atari)

Ghosts n' Goblins by Capcom

Gradius 2 by Konami

Gun.Smoke by Capcom

Heavy Barrel by Data East

Jackel by Konami

Joust by Williams

Karnov by Data East

Klax by Tengen (Atari)

Legendary Wings by Capcom

Little Nemo by Capcom (although not directly a port of the arcade version)

Mappy by Namco

Mario Bros. by Nintendo

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! by Nintendo (an evolution of the arcade version)

Mrs. Pacman by Tengen (superior to the late Namco release)

NARC by Williams

Operation Wolf by Taito

P.O.W by SNK

Pacman by Namco

Pooyan by Konami

Rampage by Data East

Rolling Thunder by Namco (NES version by Tengen)

Rush n' Atack by Konami

Rygar by Tecmo

Section Z by Capcom

Seicross by Nichibutsu

Smash TV by Williams

Spy Hunter by Midway

Super C by Konami

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Arcade Game by Konami

Tetris by Bulletproof Software

Tiger Heli by Toaplan

[BurningDoom]

Wait, TMNT The Arcade Game was fun, and one of the best NES games, no doubt. But to say it's a good port of the arcade is a stretch. A picture says a 1000 words:

NES:


Arcade:


However, the NES version did add a stage to make up for the difference in graphics.

[BurningDoom]

I'd say the best arcade ports on NES were the arcades released during the previous generation or early in NES's generation. Stuff like:

-1942
-Bubble Bobble
-Donkey Kong
-Donkey Kong Jr.
-Double Dragon
-Galaga
-Gauntlet
-Mario Bros. (Original)
-Ms. Pac-Man
-Pac-Man
-Paperboy
-Popeye

I'm sure I missed plenty. But those are the ones I remember.

[Limewater]

How similar does a port need to be to the source material to count? Double Dragon 1 and 2 are great games, but they are not faithful to the arcade originals. This is also the case with Rygar.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II was as close at the NES could really get to the arcade experience at home, even though it was inferior to the original. It wasn't a perfect port, but it was very popular and is still pretty fun.

IIRC, Gauntlet II is a much better port than the original Gauntlet, which was pretty disappointing, even if it did sell very well.

I don't remember if Guerrilla War has been mentioned yet on this thread, but it's a really good arcade port. Of course, it doesn't look as good as the arcade version, and it doesn't have the rotating joystick thing, but it's still very well adapted to the capabilities of the hardware, and I think that's the most important thing.

[final fight cd]

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! by Nintendo (an evolution of the arcade version)

i am pretty sure a lot of people perfer the nes version over the aracde. but, i have never played the arcade so can't comment.

[final fight cd]

Wait, TMNT The Arcade Game was fun, and one of the best NES games, no doubt. But to say it's a good port of the arcade is a stretch. A picture says a 1000 words:
However, the NES version did add a stage to make up for the difference in graphics.

i wouldn't put so much stock with the graphics. of course the arcade is going to blow the tits right off the nes.