Battle of the Ports / Retrocore - Youtube channel

[ReadOnlyCat]

Battle of the Ports is a Youtube series dedicated to Arcade games ports.

I mentioned it in a post recently and personally use it as a reference for my projects since it very often reviews Amiga games so I have always been surprised that it is not more often mentioned on the EAB. It has been running for years now so I thought it deserved to have its own thread.

The series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...wbUqM75P-ko9Yd
Retrocore's channel (he maintains a few other series): https://www.youtube.com/user/Yakumo1975
Patreon account (I do sponsor him): http://www.patreon.com/bofp

The series boasts 126 episodes as of today and reviews ports of Arcade games on most of the home computers and console of that era with a short commentary of each version. Obviously the Amiga versions are featured very often. As are C64, Spectrum, Amstrad, as well as X68000, MegaDrive, Saturn, SNES, etc. and some others.

In Mark's (the author) own words (emphasis mine):

The Retro Core Channel is home to the original Retro Core game series that started way before the days of You Tube. These days it's also home to the awesome Battle Of the Ports. Each week a new show takes a look at a classic arcade game and it's ports across multiple platforms. It's shocking just how bad or good some ports are.

It can be sometimes be a bit painful to see the butchered versions birthed by the likes of US Gold and Tiertex be compared to the other ports, but it is always informative and fun to watch. As he says, there are sometimes good and bad surprises.

Mark sometimes has a little bias in favour of the ST but he is fair in most of the videos and he is usually right that the Amiga Arcade ports generally were not worth the praise we gave them in the past. When an Amiga port is good/better he never fails to highlight it.

The quality of the video has improved steadily over time, the early videos were a bit amateur but those from the past year have been really nice. He publishes them every Saturday from Japan so they are usually available either in the late morning or early afternoon of the same day for Europe and the US.

I will post references to past notable episodes in this thread and will update it whenever new ones are published.

Enjoy!

[ReadOnlyCat]

Before I prepare the list of past episodes with Amiga ports, here are some recent episodes to give you an idea.
Here is the list of episodes as of July 9th, 2016.

I have split it in 3:

• Arcade games videos with Amiga ports. 79 of them in total!
• kinda-with Amiga port.
• and those which never had an Amiga port.

Subscription highly recommended, as well as patreon-ing him (https://www.patreon.com/bofp).

Enjoy! x

Shows with Amiga ports: (the majority of them deserving a remake )

Show #__1: Space Harrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__2: R-Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__3: Ghosts'n Goblins. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__4: Ghouls'n Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__5: Final Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__6: Double Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__7: Dynamite Dux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__8: Forgotten Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #__9: Golden Axe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
show #_10: Out Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
show #_11: Galaxy Force II . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
show #_12: Power Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
show #_15: RoboCop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_16: Midnight Resistance . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_17: Virtua Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_19: Chase H.Q.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_20: S.C.I. Special Criminal Investigation . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_21: Street Fighter II . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_22: Super Street Fighter II . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_23: Vigilante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_24: Shinobi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_25: Strider Hiryu . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_26: Hard Drivin'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_27: After Burner / After Burner II. . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_29: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_30: Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_32: Action Fighter. . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_34: Bonanza Brothers VOICE OVER VERSION . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_35: Smash TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_36: Dragon Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_38: The Ninja Warriors. . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_42: JuJu Densetsu / Toki. . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_44: Altered Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_45: Rolling Thunder . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_46: Bionic Commando . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_47: Cabal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_50: Super Hang-On . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_53: Mortal Kombat . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_54: Rainbow Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_55: Turbo Out Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_57: Mortal Kombat II. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_58: The NewZealand Story. . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_59: Atomic Robo-Kid . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_60: Shadow Dancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_64: Bubble Bobble . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_65: Bad Dudes VS Dragon Ninja . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_71: Pit Fighter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_72: Ninja Gaiden / Shadow Warrior . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_74: Commando. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_75: Mercs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_76: S.T.U.N. Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_77: Alien Syndrome. . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_78: Double Dragon II The Revenge. . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_79: Thunder Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_80: Super Monaco GP . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_81: Line of Fire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_83: Black Dragon / Black Tiger. . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_85: Wonder Boy in Monster Land. . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_86: Road Blasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_89: TOOBIN' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_90: Flying Shark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_91: Pac-Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #_98: G.LOC Air Battle (G-LOC). . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #102: Silkworm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #103: Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone. . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #105: Secret Agent - Sly Spy. . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #106: Area 88 / UN Squadron . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #107: Cisco Heat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #108: Dragon Breed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #110: Crack Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #111: Snow Bros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #113: Big Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #114: Saint Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #115: Super Street Fighter II X / Turbo . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #118: Super Contra / Super C. . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #119: Dynasty Wars / Tenchi wo Kurau. . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #121: Mizubaku Daibouken / Liquid kids. . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #122: Rod.Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #123: Rise of the Robots. . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]

Kinda with an Amiga port:

show # 13: Alien Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]

No Amiga port: still so much potential untapped (yet!)

show # 14: Virtua Fighter 2. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 18: Sega Rally Championship . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 28: Art of Fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 31: Quartet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 33: Fatal Fury Special / 2. . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 37: Night Striker . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 39: Rastan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 40: Daytona USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 41: Sega Touring Car Championship . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 43: Raiden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 48: Parodius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 49: Rygar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 51: Choplifter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 52: Densha de Go! . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 56: Darius II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 61: Kyuukyoku Tiger / Twin Cobra. . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 62: ESWAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 63: Puyo Puyo 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 66: Samurai Shodown / Spirits . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 67: Fantasy Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 68: Virtua Fighter. . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 69: The Legend of Kage. . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 70: Gauntlet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 73: Wonder Boy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 82: Chuka Taisen / Cloud Master . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 84: Ridge Racer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 87: Dead Or Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 88: Kung-Fu Master / Spartan X. . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 92: Mr. Driller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 93: Gun.Smoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 94: Gradius / Nemesis . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 95: Cotton - Fantastic Night Dreams . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 96: Enduro Racer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 97: Splatterhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show # 99: The House of the Dead . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #100: Street Fighter Zero 2 / Alpha 2 . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #101: Street Fighter Zero / Alpha . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #104: Atomic Runner - Chelnov . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #109: The Simpsons Arcade . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #112: Slap Fight / Alcon. . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #116: X-Men Children of the Atom. . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #117: Contra / Gryzor . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #120: Zero Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #124: Detana!! Twinbee. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #125: World Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #126: Fatal Fury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]
Show #127: Tatsujin/Truxton. . . . . . . . . . . . [ Show youtube player ]

[jayminer]

Cool, I love shows like this! Will definitely check this out tonight when I get off work! Thanks for bringing it to my attention

[Belgarath]

You've got Contra / Super C mixed up
Contra doesn't have an Amiga ver, Super C does

[s2325]

Yes, my fake screenshots were from Contra MSX, not Amiga.

[mintsauce82]

RetroCore is an outstanding channel, a really valuable resource. I've been following Yakumo's work even since the pre-YouTube days, he knows his stuff.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by Belgarath

You've got Contra / Super C mixed up
Contra doesn't have an Amiga ver, Super C does

Thanks! I have fixed that now.

[roondar]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

Before I prepare the list of past episodes with Amiga ports, here are some recent episodes to give you an idea.

Videos with an Amiga version:
(Note that apart from "Liquid kids", these are painful to watch since the Amiga versions are really piss poor. )

No love for Rod-Land? I always found the Amiga version of this game to be pretty damn good myself

[dreamkatcha]

Wow, excellent resource that passed me by totally until now because I saw the Japanese text and made assumptions (I don't speak a word of it).

Interestingly he's the least Japanese sounding Japanese guy I've ever heard. What's his background?

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

Wow, excellent resource that passed me by totally until now because I saw the Japanese text and made assumptions (I don't speak a word of it).

Interestingly he's the least Japanese sounding Japanese guy I've ever heard. What's his background?

Mark is British, he left for Japan some decades ago because it was the land of video games back then and got a family and job there.

[dreamkatcha]

Ah, that makes sense. Good to know I wasn't going mad.

He's picked up the Japanese inflections, but mostly still has a regional British accent.

I love his bluntness, particularly in the Liquid Kids video (where he also mentions Snow Bros). To paraphrase, "Liquid Kids on the Amiga was a great game because Ocean France - not UK - made it. It wasn't released at the time because Ocean UK were incompetent".

I love Ocean for their brilliant and awful games, but still couldn't help

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by roondar

No love for Rod-Land? I always found the Amiga version of this game to be pretty damn good myself

This was an overlook of mine and is now fixed! Thanks for pointing it out.

[ReadOnlyCat]

I have updated/replaced my second post with the list of the 124 relevant episodes of the show.

This list is essentially the "historical" record of the channel.
I will add new posts to this thread for subsequent episodes.

Enjoy!

[vulture]

Miggy has no virta racing port, so, maybe, it should be moved.

[jizmo]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

Mark sometimes has a little bias in favour of the ST but he is fair in most of the videos and he is usually right that the Amiga Arcade ports generally were not worth the praise we gave them in the past. When an Amiga port is good/better he never fails to highlight it.

The first episode I clicked was [ Show youtube player ], one of my all time favorites. On the Amiga port, which is by far the best one here in terms of colors, framerate and playability, the footage is mushy, with huge borders black borders all around and starts his the review with "Surprisingly the Amiga port is fairly competent".

On the following Atari version the footage is much more crisp and he leaves out of the review few small details like much duller and limited palette, lacking animation and the complete absence of parallax scrolling, and finishes with "I'm suprised it's not as fast as Amiga version"

I'm right with him there that the Amiga arcade ports aren't anywhere as good as they could've been, but the obvious lack of objectivity here is a cue for me to skip the rest of the episodes - or atleast turn off the commentary.

[invent]

Thanks for the reminder ReadOnlyCat , it's a great YouTube channel to subscribe to, it's also nice that they overlay which system it playing.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by jizmo

I'm right with him there that the Amiga arcade ports aren't anywhere as good as they could've been, but the obvious lack of objectivity here is a cue for me to skip the rest of the episodes - or atleast turn off the commentary.

It is only human to judge an entire show from a single example.
But this is not exactly reasonable.

As for video quality it has been excellent for a long time already, and he posted HD versions of his early days videos. If Dragon Breed's is as bad as you state then it's an isolated example. Again, evaluating with a single sample is not doing yourself a favor.

As for objectivity, I mentioned Mark's slight bias. Frankly, unless one is overly sensitive to this kind of aspect, that is a very bearable thing. The show brings enough to the table that this should not matter if you can accept that not everyone sees the world in the same way.

[Havie]

Interesting to watch and you do need to turn a blind ear to the bias! Looking at Superhang on he seems to have completely missed that the Amiga graphics are much more like the arcade for instance and yes we know that many Amiga ports weren't great but how many times do you need to say it?

Alos, seems to be some slighty dodgy emulation as I'm sure the ST is generally not known to run games faster than the Amiga.

[jizmo]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

As for objectivity, I mentioned Mark's slight bias. Frankly, unless one is overly sensitive to this kind of aspect, that is a very bearable thing. The show brings enough to the table that this should not matter if you can accept that not everyone sees the world in the same way.

I really really like the concept - I wouldn't still be around here commenting if I didn't.

I just wished it was all backed with some objective and some insightful info like background stories, trivia, frame rates, resolutions, sprite sizes etc instead of gut feeling and wild claims like "Atari ST version looks just like Amiga version, but that's because most games of the time were ported from Amiga".

As it is now, I just have to do as Havie suggested and skip the commentary.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by Havie

Interesting to watch and you do need to turn a blind ear to the bias! Looking at Superhang on he seems to have completely missed that the Amiga graphics are much more like the arcade for instance and yes we know that many Amiga ports weren't great but how many times do you need to say it?

Alos, seems to be some slighty dodgy emulation as I'm sure the ST is generally not known to run games faster than the Amiga.

As it turns out, the ST version of Super Hang-On does definitely run better (and the Amiga version only has 16 colours)!
This is alas true of many arcade ports where the ST version was the lead: early games which did not use the Blitter gave the ST an advantage due to its slightly faster CPU and more compact bitplane organization. It is definitely faster to draw bobs on the ST than on the Amiga when using only the 68000.

If you know objective facts about the game's actual speed, then it is clear that his bias is actually not that high.
Truth is, the Amiga arcade ports were pretty shitty overall safe for a few late exceptions and he does not fail to remind us of it, which I am thankful for.

And he does single out great Amiga ports when they are good. That is bias I can live with.

Originally Posted by jizmo

I just wished it was all backed with some objective and some insightful info like background stories, trivia, frame rates, resolutions, sprite sizes etc instead of gut feeling and wild claims like "Atari ST version looks just like Amiga version, but that's because most games of the time were ported from Amiga".

As it is now, I just have to do as Havie suggested and skip the commentary.

Well, not everyone is always well informed, that is a tolerable thing.

Frankly the bias is not always present and very slight. If you can accept that different people have different opinions it should not bother you that much. We all have a lot of friends who do not have any love for the Amiga, that does not prevent us from having interesting discussions about it with them does it?

If you can live with someone having a very slightly different appreciation of things than yours, then you can leave the commentary on.