Your favorite hidden gems ports!

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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I'm surprised Fatal Fury 1 for Genesis wasn't mentioned yet.That port is actually better than the Neo's version imo..
BB
Hey whats up Big Bear, @Tarma mentioned it earlier in this thread. Although missing the full roster of characters, the genesis/megadrive version having a proper versus mode with the formerly AI-only cast being playable (including Geese) was indeed way more fun than it had any right to be. The gameplay itself was also surprisingly close to the neogeo original which was shocking to me at the time. The sega system ports of FF1-FFS are the only non-neogeo versions of those titles that I still revisit from time to time. :buttrock:

I also love the Gameboy Nettou fighters, I bought every one that got released in the US, even Battle Arena Toshinden, and used emulation for the ones that didn't.

+1
Takara’s Nettou series is damn fun and even the non-SNK entries are still a blast to play. The gameboy Transformers Beast Wars fighting game in particular from their team was fantastic.

The first KOF I ever played was US KOF 95 on the PlayStation. Not a hidden gem, but I was working at a game store and my friend who was another employee and I rented (took it out for free) it, got a ton of wings and watched football and then played KOF all night. I was amazed by the roster size compared to street fighter, and it was so much fun checking out each character for the first time.

Usually for Christmas I got one video game from my parents and that was the one I asked for.

Not a hidden gem but certainly a port that has a special place for me.
I’m with ya. The playstation version of KOF95 was a fun port at the time, and Chad “The Game Lord” Okada (in his producer role at Sony) managing to get this title ported to the system with a better translation and the region censorship elements restored for the US release was a nice treat here in the states at the time as well.
 
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Azathoth

Galford's Armourer
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I also love the Gameboy Nettou fighters
I've got a few unlicensed carts that go by different names (KoF 97, 98) that use the '96 engine but include the entire roster of '95 and '96 together. Surprisingly decent for an unlicensed hack job.

I've also got a GB Color one called KoF 2000 that goes by Super Fighter '99 on the title screen. It's an extensive hack of '96 with additional characters added and new original sprites drawn for them. It plays just as good as '96, the new sprites and artwork are implemented very well.
 

@M

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy,
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Many years ago, I do recall trying an unofficial Gameboy KOF 97 or 98 ROM that combined 95 & 96, but, I think it just swapped some of the fighters between the two, rather than combining them all. Thanks for the heads up on the Super Fighters one, I'll give that a try!
 

city41

Gal Ageise's Demon
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True, but they ought to be for the price of admission. I seem to remember the Arcade Card Duo and Arcade Card Pro retailing at just under $200. For PC Engine owners it was basically like a Mega Drive owner shelling out for a 32X -- a complete system upgrade. I'm not sure how much of that is lost on people these days if they weren't around for that.
That's true, cost wise. But tech wise, the Arcade cards just added a lot of RAM to the system. Same cpu, graphics hardware, etc. So in that context, they are impressive ports.
 

Azathoth

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Many years ago, I do recall trying an unofficial Gameboy KOF 97 or 98 ROM that combined 95 & 96, but, I think it just swapped some of the fighters between the two, rather than combining them all.
The character screen is mixed up, but if you hit the start button it goes to a second screen that has the remaining fighters.
 

Technos

Formerly known as #28
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The cuts made for Metal Slug X to work on the PlayStation are basically sacrilege, but it was the first version of any of the series that I was able to own and I played the hell out of it. Every home version should have the combat school mode.
 

@M

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy,
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The character screen is mixed up, but if you hit the start button it goes to a second screen that has the remaining fighters.
That I did not know, cool!
 

madmanjock

Bare AES Handler
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The cuts made for Metal Slug X to work on the PlayStation are basically sacrilege, but it was the first version of any of the series that I was able to own and I played the hell out of it. Every home version should have the combat school mode.

I remember this port well, despite the number of frames displayed being butchered it was still a blast to play.

I think they at least kept the blood red in Metal Slug X? From memory, Metal Slug 1 on PSX either had no blood or white blood in the JPN release I played years ago.
 

Azathoth

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I think they at least kept the blood red in Metal Slug X? From memory, Metal Slug 1 on PSX either had no blood or white blood in the JPN release I played years ago.
The Agetec US release was censored, not the JP version though.
 

doaal

Mr. Big's Thug
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The Genesis/MD version of AoF1 was ported by Sega themselves and is excellent. I actually prefer the game without those massive character sprites zooming in and out constantly.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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The Genesis/MD version of AoF1 was ported by Sega themselves and is excellent. I actually prefer the game without those massive character sprites zooming in and out constantly.
I owe that port another look. I remember disliking it, renting it back in the day. Then again, I have a bias for the SNES version because that's the first version I played before the Neo Geo, and I remember liking it and being impressed by the zoom feature. However, I recently revisited the SNES port, and wow how it doesn't hold up in hindsight! It's rough.
 
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Not a favorite but a disapointment…these Switch ports…Recently tried shock troopers.
Blurry, slow to load, and oversaturated.
 

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Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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Not a favorite but a disapointment…these Switch ports…Recently tried shock troopers.
Blurry, slow to load, and oversaturated.
The modern ports aren't really "ports" in the same sense. They're the Neo Geo version running using emulation.
 

Ralfakick

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I remember this port well, despite the number of frames displayed being butchered it was still a blast to play.

I think they at least kept the blood red in Metal Slug X? From memory, Metal Slug 1 on PSX either had no blood or white blood in the JPN release I played years ago.
PlayStation Metal Slug has a vocal song ending not sure about the Saturn version that separates it from the mvs version

 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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PlayStation Metal Slug has a vocal song ending not sure about the Saturn version that separates it from the mvs version

The Saturn version has it too, but the NGCD version just has lyrics on screen.
 
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