Crappy ports, remasters, and remakes.

If you're like me -- and if you are, I'm so sorry -- you probably lie awake at night wondering which version of a given game is the best one to actually play. Oftentimes, the answer isn't as simple as "whichever is newest and shiniest," as counterintuitive as that may be. So I thought we could get a thread going of games with ports, remasters, or remakes that would in theory be a better experience than the older versions, but which aren't in actuality.

I was inspired by this tweet pointing out some graphical problems with Devil May Cry 3 HD, which sent me down a rabbit hole of finding out that the HD versions of all three PS2 Devil May Cry games are actually pretty shitty, which I was heretofore unaware of. And that got me thinking, "why did I never hear about this before?" Well, maybe because we didn't have a thread about it here. That seems like sound logic.

So let's pool our knowledge and warn against these false prophets of progress. I'll start with some off the top of my head:

Bayonetta on PS3 -- notoriously bad port, worst way to play the game.
Devil May Cry HD Collection -- see above.
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on Wii -- a chore to play without bongos.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition -- basically a xerox of a xerox (repeating).
Little King's Story on PC -- a port so bad not even expert modders could fix it.
Silent Hill HD Collection -- based on incomplete versions of Silent Hill 2 & 3.

The PC version of Splinter Cell Conviction off the top of my head. I can handle a wide array of crappy ports as long as they work out of the box but not PC SC Conviction. There is a variety of things you got to do just to get it working like get the Ubisoft installer, then set it to Windows 7 backwards compatiblity mode then you got to tinker with Steam Big Picture Mode just to get gamepad controls to work. It was too much bullshit just to play a game I didn't even like all that much. I honestly would've preffered a crappy PS3 port over this shit I had to go through.

If you're like me -- and if you are, I'm so sorry -- you probably lie awake at night wondering which version of a given game is the best one to actually play. Oftentimes, the answer isn't as simple as "whichever is newest and shiniest," as counterintuitive as that may be. So I thought we could get a thread going of games with ports, remasters, or remakes that would in theory be a better experience than the older versions, but which aren't in actuality.

I was inspired by this tweet pointing out some graphical problems with Devil May Cry 3 HD, which sent me down a rabbit hole of finding out that the HD versions of all three PS2 Devil May Cry games are actually pretty shitty, which I was heretofore unaware of. And that got me thinking, "why did I never hear about this before?" Well, maybe because we didn't have a thread about it here. That seems like sound logic.

So let's pool our knowledge and warn against these false prophets of progress. I'll start with some off the top of my head:

Bayonetta on PS3 -- notoriously bad port, worst way to play the game.
Devil May Cry HD Collection -- see above.
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on Wii -- a chore to play without bongos.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition -- basically a xerox of a xerox (repeating).
Little King's Story on PC -- a port so bad not even expert modders could fix it.
Silent Hill HD Collection -- based on incomplete versions of Silent Hill 2 & 3.

I do think some balance is required on some of these, although I won't bother justifying Bayonetta's porting position because it was still half arsed.

I was inspired by this tweet pointing out some graphical problems with Devil May Cry 3 HD,

There are actually specific issues when porting ps2 games because of how the ps2 worked, it's very common even in good ports for graphical differences simply because some graphical tricks don't really work on later graphics hardware. It's also why later Xbox ports of PS2 games often look worse despite the on paper more advanced hardware, see MGS2.

That's not to say it can't be done, Zone of the Enders 2 being so bad it was re-ported for PS3 by a different studio who fixed a lot of the visual issues, but it isn't easy.

Silent Hill HD Collection -- based on incomplete versions of Silent Hill 2 & 3.

There is a mitigating factor with this one, Konami had lost the source code but had access to this one.

The PC version of Splinter Cell Conviction off the top of my head. I can handle a wide array of crappy ports as long as they work out of the box but not PC SC Conviction. There is a variety of things you got to do just to get it working like get the Ubisoft installer, then set it to Windows 7 backwards compatiblity mode then you got to tinker with Steam Big Picture Mode just to get gamepad controls to work. It was too much bullshit just to play a game I didn't even like all that much. I honestly would've preffered a crappy PS3 port over this shit I had to go through.

I played and completed this game and had absolutely zero problems to run and play it on PC.

I do think some balance is required on some of these, although I won't bother justifying Bayonetta's porting position because it was still half arsed.

I was inspired by this tweet pointing out some graphical problems with Devil May Cry 3 HD,

There are actually specific issues when porting ps2 games because of how the ps2 worked, it's very common even in good ports for graphical differences simply because some graphical tricks don't really work on later graphics hardware. It's also why later Xbox ports of PS2 games often look worse despite the on paper more advanced hardware, see MGS2.

That's not to say it can't be done, Zone of the Enders 2 being so bad it was re-ported for PS3 by a different studio who fixed a lot of the visual issues, but it isn't easy.

Silent Hill HD Collection -- based on incomplete versions of Silent Hill 2 & 3.

There is a mitigating factor with this one, Konami had lost the source code but had access to this one.

Noooo, no nuance. Smash!

At any rate, knowing what I know now about DMC HD, I feel like PS2 is the way to go regardless.

So many of the new AAA games coming out in recent years have had absolutely abysmal pc ports
Off the top of my head:
- Wild Hearts
- Jedi: Survivor
- Dead Space 2023
- The Last of Us Part 1 (genuinely some of the most hilarious graphical bugs ive ever seen)
- The Callisto Protocol
- Forspoken

I played and completed this game and had absolutely zero problems to run and play it on PC.

same, but on other hand double agent was complete mess.

So many of the new AAA games coming out in recent years have had absolutely abysmal pc ports
Off the top of my head:
- Wild Hearts
- Jedi: Survivor
- Dead Space 2023
- The Last of Us Part 1 (genuinely some of the most hilarious graphical bugs ive ever seen)
- The Callisto Protocol
- Forspoken

Jedi Survivor is kinda abit whatever. Seemed just framerate demanding with pretty standard ue4 issue stuff. traversal stutter was less than first part at least patched. It was playable. I do remember Moons of Madness walkin sim which ran worse than Jedi Survivor was on constant cpu eat and stutter all time and didnt ever felt like it got better.

Out of the ones I've covered, there's quite a few:

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (PC port)
Condemned 2: Bloodshot (PS3 port)
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC port before the remaster)
Doom 3 BFG Edition (remaster)
ObsCure II (PC port)
Prototype (PC port)
Resident Evil 4 (first PC port)
Saints Row 2 (PC port)
Silent Hill: Homecoming (PC port)
The Darkness (PS3 port)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (PC port)
True Crime: New York City (PC port)

I played and completed this game and had absolutely zero problems to run and play it on PC.

I wish it just worked when you booted it up rather than going through the amount of shit that I did. I don't even recall it working right away when I played it the first time either. It is known for not being that great of a port. Double Agent is probably way worse, but at the same time, I don't have much interest in playing that game again if the PC port is abysmal as it is. It seems the only way to play that game proper is through an Xbox 360.

Every port of Tales of Symphonia. I put together my play order for the "Tales of" games last year and apparently the Gamecube version is the only one that runs at 60fps. Every other port including the PC port is based off the PS2 version which runs at 30fps.

There's also a lot of opinions for which version of each Final Fantasy game is worth playing but that could probably be a whole discussion in itself. Most people would say the Pixel Remasters are good enough for people trying the originals for the first time. Others would say something like the Anniversary edition of I and II for the PSP are the best because they have extra content. It's all a matter of opinion.

I didn't realize Bayonetta on PS3 was the unideal way to play it; I think I remember some long loading times when my sister played but that's pretty much it. I've also seen the GBC port for Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. It did not look appealing.

Tomb Raider Underworld on PS2 was less than optimal. There were graphic issues that very much seemed off at the time and only now looking into it it seems that it was cut back from PS3 version. She always disliked this entry the least and now I'm wondering if it's partially because she never played the intended experience.

Every port of Tales of Symphonia. I put together my play order for the "Tales of" games last year and apparently the Gamecube version is the only one that runs at 60fps. Every other port including the PC port is based off the PS2 version which runs at 30fps.

There's also a lot of opinions for which version of each Final Fantasy game is worth playing but that could probably be a whole discussion in itself. Most people would say the Pixel Remasters are good enough for people trying the originals for the first time. Others would say something like the Anniversary edition of I and II for the PSP are the best because they have extra content. It's all a matter of opinion.

I do think the GC had some technical component that helped with 60hz, because ports of GC games in general are often affected by this. I don't think ToS is that taxing to run. It doesn't help that the PS2 version has extra content, so even if they could port the GC version, it doesn't make sense. I do wonder if the game logic is just hardcoded at 30, and maybe the GC did something with the visuals.

The new port of GC's Paper Mario is also 30, whereas the original was 60, and while its received substantial visual upgrades, I don't see why the Switch couldn't do 60 in docked mode if Intelligent Systems really wanted to. I mean it can't be bad porting, IS (at least for previous machines) make Nintendo's dev kits and dev tools

Sonic 1 for GBA. Here are some of its faults.

- It's ridiculously zoomed in
- Physics are broken
- Scrolling/parallax is broken
- Collision detection is broken
- Speed shoes are no faster, perhaps even slower than normal speed.
- Sound is broken
- Framerate is completely random

I wish it just worked when you booted it up rather than going through the amount of shit that I did. I don't even recall it working right away when I played it the first time either. It is known for not being that great of a port. Double Agent is probably way worse, but at the same time, I don't have much interest in playing that game again if the PC port is abysmal as it is. It seems the only way to play that game proper is through an Xbox 360.

Yeah, for Double Agent I didn't have shadows because they just wouldn't work on newer systems :D And in a game when you need to hide IN SHADOWS it was pretty hard to play without. But later I got some fix on pcgamingwiki that restored shadows.

I do think the GC had some technical component that helped with 60hz, because ports of GC games in general are often affected by this. I don't think ToS is that taxing to run. It doesn't help that the PS2 version has extra content, so even if they could port the GC version, it doesn't make sense. I do wonder if the game logic is just hardcoded at 30, and maybe the GC did something with the visuals.

The new port of GC's Paper Mario is also 30, whereas the original was 60, and while its received substantial visual upgrades, I don't see why the Switch couldn't do 60 in docked mode if Intelligent Systems really wanted to. I mean it can't be bad porting, IS (at least for previous machines) make Nintendo's dev kits and dev tools

It must be something with the game logic that ties it to 30fps. I see that you've started the game on PS4. Is the 30fps tradeoff worth it for the extra content? I'll buy the PC version instead of emulating the Gamecube if there's enough of an improvement in other areas.

It must be something with the game logic that ties it to 30fps. I see that you've started the game on PS4. Is the 30fps tradeoff worth it for the extra content? I'll buy the PC version instead of emulating the Gamecube if there's enough of an improvement in other areas.

While I played the GC version on release in Europe and finished that, I've barely made it past the opening section on PS4 so I can't really judge the extra content. Although I remember bits of the game, I don't remember the majority of details.

TBH while it really should be 60 because its been 20 years since the GC release which was, it's really not the sort of game where it actually matters that much in real terms.

Yeah, for Double Agent I didn't have shadows because they just wouldn't work on newer systems :D And in a game when you need to hide IN SHADOWS it was pretty hard to play without. But later I got some fix on pcgamingwiki that restored shadows.

It just sucks that you need an Xbox 360 or an Xbox system just to have the game not play like crap.

Speaking of crappy ports, I would like to mention Deus Ex Invisible War and Thief Deadly Shadows, those games don't even run well on PC even when you patch them, especially IW.

IW's was so bad that my PC monitor resolution changed every time I booted the game up, it was annoying as shit.

It just sucks that you need an Xbox 360 or an Xbox system just to have the game not play like crap.

I played Splinter Cell 2-4 on the Gamecube back in the day and enjoyed that experience. I think I remember those being one of the rare times where it was a totally different game on one console generation compared to the other and not just in terms of graphics. I never really looked into what the differences were though.

I played Splinter Cell 2-4 on the Gamecube back in the day and enjoyed that experience. I think I remember those being one of the rare times where it was a totally different game on one console generation compared to the other and not just in terms of graphics. I never really looked into what the differences were though.

I really hated those days looking back, I recall the Xbox and PC versions of the games were probably the way the games were "meant" to be played but even the way the game is "meant" to be played can lead to things being hazey.

Sonic origins - it’s been talked to death, but I just wish the “classic” mode was the originals being preserved and emulate.
GTA DE TRILOGY - another dead horse but it’s MY dead horse since it’s my favorite gaming franchise and I’m pretty annoyed they delisted the original games.
DmC DMC DE - a really great port, too good, in fact. It should not be a console exclusive.
FFX HD - now we have the complete opposite. As this has features exclusive to pc. Like the 4x speed.
Most modern SF2 ports - Capcom, was it wise to keep USF2 switch exclusive?
MGS3 HD - they removed the ape escape mini game ;(

Very simple. Halo 2 Vista

Very simple. Halo 2 Vista

Eh, I never really had a problem with Halo 2 Vista. That's the version I played and it played pretty well imo.

Another very bad ports where of shenmue and shenmue 2 to the pc.