So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

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Dhalsim18
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So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Dhalsim18 » May 31st, 2018, 7:10 pm

I remembered back in the back when the big three Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision would vie for arcade perfect home versions of arcade games. Coleco came close at times, the 5200 was pretty darn close with Berzerk. And I am sure there are other examples. Home consoles started catching up with the arcades with each generation. The NES had pretty much perfect arcade ports of most older arcade games. Same thing with the Genesis, Snes and so on. After the NES came on the scene arcades would never be as popular as they were back in their heyday. Sure they were still around but as far new technology and new games are concerned there was less and less with each passing year. Now they are morphing into those weird hybrid gimmicky machines that are only part video game. So when do I think the home video games finally became arcade perfect? My guess would be with the PS3 era. But really the answer is as ambiguous as the question isn't it?

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 31st, 2018, 7:18 pm

At the time, I thought the Colecovision was putting out arcade perfect games, especially with its stellar version of Donkey Kong. In retrospect it wasn't really arcade perfect but some of its games were pretty close.

The gap became smaller in the early 90's when Street Fighter II on the SNES was virtually identical to the arcade game. Neo Geo had home games that were identical to the Neo Geo arcade games, but not sure that counts.

I think the Playstation was probably when arcade games finally came home, with titles like Ridge Racer and Tekken.

Dhalsim18
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Dhalsim18 » May 31st, 2018, 7:39 pm

Yeah, I don't think the Neo Geo would count. ; ) But I feel the PlayStation era was a little early. As there were still arcade games that could out perform it.

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DrLitch
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby DrLitch » May 31st, 2018, 8:07 pm

There are examples each gen where a said system could have a near arcade perfect port of a popular game. The converse of course is that the home consoles would also be technically unable to reproduce several arcade titles faithfully. As an example, when Super Street Fighter 2 came out on SNES/Genesis as a very faithful port of the arcade, Virtua Fighter and Tekken appeared around the same time and were an entire generation ahead. They were faithfully ported onto 5th generation consoles PS1 and Saturn, but by mid-cycle, there existed arcade games simply too much for their hardware and they were not even ported over by developer's for good reason. Street Fighter 3, Virtua Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, too much for PS1/Saturn.

I vouch for the Dreamcast being the first to more conclusively bridge the gap between contemporary arcade boards and home console hardware.

Sut
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Sut » June 1st, 2018, 3:14 am

I would go for Dreamcast as well. The earlier generations usually got out stripped by the arcade fairly soon.
Space Harrier and Hang on were released in 1985 and they couldn’t be accurately recreated until the 5th gen never mind 3rd gen that they were released in.

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Stalvern
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Stalvern » June 1st, 2018, 11:18 am

The Dreamcast was the first arcade-quality home system that didn't cost an arm and a leg and an organ or two. The 360 was the system that made arcades categorically obsolete.

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scotland
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby scotland » June 1st, 2018, 12:09 pm

Stalvern wrote: The 360 was the system that made arcades categorically obsolete.


Remind me of all the 360s light gun games again?

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Stalvern
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Stalvern » June 1st, 2018, 3:05 pm

scotland wrote:Remind me of all the 360s light gun games again?

This thread is about arcade machines vis-à-vis hardware, not software, and so was my post. The arcade machine as an environment to employ high-performance hardware too costly for home systems had its final struggles in the sixth generation and died forever with the seventh.

Alucard1191
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby Alucard1191 » June 1st, 2018, 3:20 pm

DrLitch wrote:There are examples each gen where a said system could have a near arcade perfect port of a popular game. The converse of course is that the home consoles would also be technically unable to reproduce several arcade titles faithfully. As an example, when Super Street Fighter 2 came out on SNES/Genesis as a very faithful port of the arcade, Virtua Fighter and Tekken appeared around the same time and were an entire generation ahead. They were faithfully ported onto 5th generation consoles PS1 and Saturn, but by mid-cycle, there existed arcade games simply too much for their hardware and they were not even ported over by developer's for good reason. Street Fighter 3, Virtua Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, too much for PS1/Saturn.

I vouch for the Dreamcast being the first to more conclusively bridge the gap between contemporary arcade boards and home console hardware.



I want to add my voice to this. Soul Caliber, Zombie Revenge, House of the Dead 2, these are just as good as the arcade versions. The dreamcast really was ahead of its time.

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scotland
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Re: So when did home video games become "Arcade Perfect?"

Postby scotland » June 1st, 2018, 3:32 pm

This is a hardware question. Light gun games - shooting deer, zombies or aliens - is still very popular. Yet the arcade can use tech - old cheap hardware - that home gamers disparage and won't use. A console is a system of hardware - not just the box but the controllers and the output hardware as well.

Arcade perfect is when and where home systems could ape arcades perfectly. That is the whole package - controls included as controls are vital to gameplay. The Xbox 360 might not even play a good Pong or Breakout because of controls, or a good Lunar Lander or Star wars for controls - although it might be able to ape the vector graphics well enough. Asteroids is 5 buttons, but 5 buttons in the right layout. Many driving games - just by physical architecture of a foot pedal on the floor, a monitor at eye height and a wheel and gear shift at the shoulders is more than most home units can do without a serious investment, and that would probably be building a racing chair, not standing up. Maybe thats better, but its not arcade perfect.

And the arcades are not static either - from VR to chairs that move to fans that blow air, etc - they are not 'categorically obsolete.'

I will say the new Xbox One adaptive controller could have another use in being a bridge toward a better arcade experience.


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