People like to point out NES games that took wild liberties with their arcade source material. Like… Bionic Commando! (Actually, a sequel to the arcade game.) And… Strider! (Actually, a completely different game altogether.) OK, so maybe that whole phenomenon tends to be overplayed. But Rygar — now, that’s a valid example. It was basically a dull Rastan Saga clone with a beautiful sunset backdrop in the arcade; on NES it was remarkably metroidvania-esque, with the addition of a top-down element linking the various world areas together. A little flaky in the programming department, but otherwise a fine creation that was way better than its source material.
The other noteworthy radical NES reworking was Ninja Gaiden, of course. Which was also from Tecmo. There must have been something in the water over there.
That last pic reminded me of what a pain it was getting Rygar on the grappling hook properly without falling in the pit in the top view areas.
You know, upon revisiting Rygar on the NES a few years back, I was quite impressed with how accessible it still is. Many old NES games I loved back in the day had kick-you-in-the-balls difficulty, but Rygar was pleasantly easy. I had no problem playing through and beating it, even with its lack of passwords and save data.
It’s sad that the NES game’s M.I.A. on Virtual Console, while the arcade game’s available. =(
One of my personal favorites – great backgrounds and great music.
The PS2 remake is also recommended, though I dunno about the Wii version.
Don’t forget about Contra. The arcade version is practically unplayable compared to the NES masterpiece it spawned. Same thing for Super C.
He’s talking about reinvented home versions. Contra and Super C are still somewhat faithful adaptations.
That picture reminds me of my favorite arcade game ever, Tecmo Knight, which allowed you to regularly behead enemies. You also get to beat the arms off “King Kong.”
@Rhete – The arcade versions of the two Contra games were good! I don’t see what’s so “unplayable” about them (although Super Contra can be a bit hard at times).
Technically speaking, the NES versions of Ninja Gaiden and Strider were not ports, since they were actually made simultaneously with their arcade counterparts. Strider for the NES was actually announced first in Japan, but never came out there for some reason, even though it was much closer to the manga than the arcade game.