Are SNES to GBA ports mostly crap?

Here we are,to determine if most ported SNES games that were on GBA were of lower/crappy quality than the SNES version.

Discuss.

Nearly all ports are crisper and less pixelated on the GBA because of its small screen. On the GBA player, which is the best way to compare the graphics, there is no contest. In that case the SNES wins.

They're usually pretty okay, but the comparative lack of screen space has a tendency to make things more annoying than they should be. Mega Man & Bass is hard enough without having a dimished view of the area around you. Phantasy Star Collection isn't really SNES (it's SMS and MD/GEN), but the labyrinth dungeons of Phantasy Star II and III, with their punishing and frequent random battles, are that much harder to navigate when you have to walk those extra steps to find out you've stumbled into a dead-end.

Most of them still look, sound, and play great, and the controls tend to be surprisingly good, though. Most of the ported SNES games didn't make much use of every button. I would avoid Contra and Tales of Phantasia, however. Tales of Phantasia was a problematic port, and Contra... just because they could port Contra III to the GBA doesn't mean they should have. Overall, there are much better ways to play these games, but if you must play them on GBA, you should still be able to appreciate most of them. Most of them aren't butchered by any means, but almost all of them sacrifice at least a little in translation.

All the SNES remakes I played (Super Mario Advance 1 and 4, Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI) were great and arguably better due to extra content.1PMrFister

All I've played have been really good, actually. I never owned a SNES so I guess I am not the best opinion to go by, admittedly. Playing, say, Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island for the first time on GBA though, they felt at home there and not like they were crammed on a system where they didn't belong. If you are super familiar w/ the original versions, there are small changes that might drive you nuts. A buddy of mine couldn't play A Link to the Past on GBA on account of some change to a control scheme he was familiar w/. I thought it was great though.

The only one I ever got was "Legend of Zelda", and it was fine in all respects. I failed at it, but that's because my gamer-muscles have atrophied due to the current gen.

joke thread? they're all very good games.

The ones that I've played (FF6, ALttP, Mario Advance 2-4) are all better due to extra content and, well, portability. The SNES versions have better sound, and probably better graphics, but the difference in graphics is mostly negligible.

No... The vast majority were fantastic.

Isn't the GBA regarded as a Portable SNES? Given that the GBA is a 32bit System and the SNES 16-bit. The SNES to GBA ports should be equal? However the quality of the screen of the GBA does make the games look washed out. This wasn't resoled until the last revisions of the Gameboy Advance. But by then Nintendo was focused on it's then upcoming Nintendo DS. It seems that the SNES to GBA ports were more of an after thought by Nintendo and second and third parties. Ports just quickly done.

During this time the Gamecube wasn't doing as well, The DS was in the planning stages, Nintendo was just not putting to much effort and thought into the ports choosen from the SNES library. This was the time of Nintendo's three pillars. Gamecube, DS and GBA. As well as having the R&D focus on the then upcoming Nintendo Revolution Console.

The SNES to GBA ports were just an after thought and were for the most part disappointing. But Crap is a good way to state the quality. Yes you are correct.

They are better ports simply because the games are portable, normally come with extra content, and glitches/bugs are normally fixed.

They had extra content and could played on the go. That makes up for the worse sound.

They had extra content and could played on the go. That makes up for the worse sound.

WhySoLimp

I never really spent much time on the SNES versions as much as the GBA ones, so in what way are they worse?

I have yet to play a bad GBA port.

I'll say with absolutley no regrets that Super Mario Advance 3 is vastly superior to Super Mario World.

I have yet to play a bad GBA port.

I'll say with absolutley no regrets that Super Mario Advance 3 is vastly superior to Super Mario World.

WiiCubeM1

The changes will bother purists and those with nostalgia goggles, but for everyone else, the core game in portable form is what matters.

[QUOTE="WiiCubeM1"]

I have yet to play a bad GBA port.

I'll say with absolutley no regrets that Super Mario Advance 3 is vastly superior to Super Mario World.

Heirren

Luigi.

The changes will bother purists and those with nostalgia goggles, but for everyone else, the core game in portable form is what matters.

SonOfChewbacca

Plus extras in some games.

Good opinion.

:)

The changes will bother purists and those with nostalgia goggles, but for everyone else, the core game in portable form is what matters.

SonOfChewbacca

No, it's the opposite.

[QUOTE="SonOfChewbacca"]

The changes will bother purists and those with nostalgia goggles, but for everyone else, the core game in portable form is what matters.

Heirren

I agree wtih Chewie, here. Sounds may be worse, and it may not look as pretty (smaller screen and all), but the core gameplay is near identical in my experience, and in some cases, improved (like with Luigi in SMA3).

[QUOTE="Heirren"][QUOTE="SonOfChewbacca"]

The changes will bother purists and those with nostalgia goggles, but for everyone else, the core game in portable form is what matters.

WiiCubeM1

I agree wtih Chewie, here. Sounds may be worse, and it may not look as pretty (smaller screen and all), but the core gameplay is near identical in my experience, and in some cases, improved (like with Luigi in SMA3).

Yeah, I don't really think of original gameplay as being some sacred thing. If they can fix a few bugs and adapt it a little for portables, all the better in my book. Of course, these adaptations are hit or miss in my experience but Nintendo is better at it than most. (In contrast, look at Sega's port of the Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog--not that Sega didn't make some awesome GBA games.)

Not really from what I hear, but there are other horrible ports on GBA (not really SNES, but still):

Later, both games got made up on GBA's successor:

Being ports, they really can't get any better than the original's imo, but ports were alwaysone of the gba's strengths.

I own a few of them and they're all great ports.OreoMilkshake

yeah i agree. I'm not sure if they are exactly ports, but MarioKart and Wolfenstein 3d play great on the GBA. Of course they take advantage of a smaller screen, but they arent bad games.

I think its more so a hit and miss thing. If a game worked as a port, it really worked, if it didnt it just didnt. Perhaps im not the best to judge this, mainly due to owning a low amount of SNES games, but from what I remember from the DKC games they played better. As well I love playing games on portable consoles because I actually beat them compared to console counterparts. Just something about playing a game while watching tv.

The only port I felt was bad was Link to the Past. All others were great I think albeit the lower sound quality

the gba versions all looked and played the same , if not better

If you care the slightest bit about sound and graphics, avoid the GBA-ports.

Tales of Phantasia Op SNES

Tales of Phantasia Op GBA

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage SNES

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage GBA

Donkey Kong Country SNES vs. GBA

If you care the slightest bit about sound and graphics, avoid the GBA-ports.

Tales of Phantasia Op SNES

Tales of Phantasia Op GBA

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage SNES

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage GBA

Donkey Kong Country SNES vs. GBA

doubutsuteki

It is not really fair to compare by YouTube videos. GBA visusals esp. always look way worse due to being stretched up to whatever resolution the video is in. Also, Tales and R-Type both look pretty good, esp. Tales which looks about the same just zoomed in a little. Donkey Kong Country does look worse though, I'll give you that.

[QUOTE="doubutsuteki"]

If you care the slightest bit about sound and graphics, avoid the GBA-ports.

Tales of Phantasia Op SNES

Tales of Phantasia Op GBA

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage SNES

R-Type III - The Third Lightning 1st stage GBA

Donkey Kong Country SNES vs. GBA

logicalfrank

It is not really fair to compare by YouTube videos. GBA visusals esp. always look way worse due to being stretched up to whatever resolution the video is in. Also, Tales and R-Type both look pretty good, esp. Tales which looks about the same just zoomed in a little. Donkey Kong Country does look worse though, I'll give you that.

Yeah, you have a point there.

The Tales of Phantasia GBA-video is 640x360 while the SNES-version is 320x240. With R-Type III it's the same thing but the other way around.

See, DKC looks worse - I think they all do. I was aiming mostly for the differences in sound though, I mean, it's some pretty apparent differences.

I agree on the sound. GBA just has crappy sound in my opinion--now bear in mind that I say that as someone who absolutely loves GBA--and I think the SNES to GBA ports all suffer from that to some extent.

I agree on the sound. GBA just has crappy sound in my opinion--now bear in mind that I say that as someone who absolutely loves GBA--and I think the SNES to GBA ports all suffer from that to some extent.

logicalfrank

[QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

I agree on the sound. GBA just has crappy sound in my opinion--now bear in mind that I say that as someone who absolutely loves GBA--and I think the SNES to GBA ports all suffer from that to some extent.

Heirren

They seem noisy even if you play them on a DS, which I think has great sound for DS games. Even the 3DS ambassador games seemed to have some hiss in the background.

I agree on the sound. GBA just has crappy sound in my opinion--now bear in mind that I say that as someone who absolutely loves GBA--and I think the SNES to GBA ports all suffer from that to some extent.

logicalfrank

Yeah, totally. Seems most (?) GBA games used streamed audio too - of exceptionally poor quality. I don't remember what the internal speakers were like or the 3,5mm audiojack, but I remember that even the GBC had crappy sound compared to the old gray brick - the original Game Boy.

I don't think so. Generally the only thing I saw that took a hit across the board definitively was sound (which the SNES was superior in). Graphics were a case by case basis but in situations such as the DKC series the graphics being brighter (and therefore a little washed out) supposedly had to do with accomodating the original non-lit GBAs as well. As for content and play changes, that's depending on the player, for instance Mario World was easier on GBA than SNES since you only reverted down one power level rather than straight from Super/Cape/Fire to short. They are pretty serviceable and overall enjoyable but if you're a purist then nothing is going to suit you more than the original source material. I'm not particularly picky as long as a port works well and remains fun. That said I was disappointed in the Contra one.