Games released on dual formats...

[ParanoiaDragon]

Oh, & yes, do DO need the 1.0 card for Altered Beast

No you don't.  If you encounter Neff 3 times as a human, he'll fight you.  I made it up to level 2 with the Super System Card.  If you turn into the beast, the screen stops scrolling.  You are stuck there forever unless you happen to be using the System 1.0 card.

That's true, I just always think about, turning into the beast, which as you say, the screen stops scrolling.  Is it actually possible to beat the bosses without turning into the beasts?? 

[m1savage]

Maybe someone already mentioned them but how about Davis Cup and Andre Panza Kickboxing?

[nat]

OMG, how i wished a CD version of Street fighter II' as well or even better a Turbo SF II. using ACD technology on the grafical level of a Garou densetsu special. it would kick the SFC's ass directly to hell.

I often think about the choices the programmers made about the medium they chose. Why CD for Street Fighter I? Why HuCard for Street Fighter II? As it is, the HuCard of SF2 can hold it's own against the SNES port. But think how much an ACD could've blown away all other versions.

[Tatsujin]

and "熱血高校ドッジボール部PCサッカー編" nekketsu koukou dodgeball bun PC soccer hen 

[Tatsujin]

I often think about the choices the programmers made about the medium they chose. Why CD for Street Fighter I? Why HuCard for Street Fighter II?

for Fighting Street, they only liked to use the new medium CD-ROM at that time. no big deals there, i believe. as for the HuCard for SFII', may they choosed this medium to remove any loading time. and the use of the new 20Mbit HuCard invention as well 

As it is, the HuCard of SF2 can hold it's own against the SNES port. But think how much an ACD could've blown away all other versions.

that's all about!

[Black Tiger]

OMG, how i wished a CD version of Street fighter II' as well or even better a Turbo SF II. using ACD technology on the grafical level of a Garou densetsu special. it would kick the SFC's ass directly to hell.

I often think about the choices the programmers made about the medium they chose. Why CD for Street Fighter I? Why HuCard for Street Fighter II? As it is, the HuCard of SF2 can hold it's own against the SNES port. But think how much an ACD could've blown away all other versions.

I always held out hope for an ACD of like SSFTTurbo or something. But when SFIICE came out, Super CD was the standard at the time. The Turbo Duo & System 3.0 card weren't even out yet in North America.

When Fighting Street came out, HuCards were only 2 megs with the possible rare 4 meg'er. I don't think that FS or Monster Lair would've turned out anywhere near as good on HuCard.

[GUTS]

I thought the PC Engine version of Street Fighter II turbo was better than the SNES & Genesis versions visually, but the music was kind of weak, like they just ran the arcade music through a program that converted it to PCE chip music instead of recomposing it for the system.  It definitely plays awesome with a 6 button pad.

[esteban]

The Side Arms HuCard has everything visually that the arcade port on Side Arms Special does, as well as most of the arcade perfect sounding sfx. But I believe that there are a few extra digitized effects in 'Special. The Before Christ mode has entirely redrawn graphics and different bosses. The gameplay is kinda different and the weapons aren't all exactly the same. Its basically a remix of the original. The CD soundtrack alone makes Side Arms Special a must own even if you already own the HuCard.

The inclusion of a CD soundtrack might sway me a bit. I was under the impression the CD just recycled the chip music.

You can find the HuCard for a pretty good price, I'd reckon. Get that if you want to play it safe.

However, I would definitely recommend getting the CD version. Nice soundtrack + BC mode = great deal.

I still play the HuCard when I want to hear some chiptunes... so you can't lose either way.

And, quickly... R-Type complete... I agree with B_T: the cinemas aren't anything to get excited about (sad but true). The soundtrack is interesting simply because it doesn't sound like a generic re-hash of the classic tunes. If you are a big R-type fan, then get the CD for the novelty of the redbook alone, if nothing else.

Super Raiden: search these forums for rolins + Super Raiden. He made an exhaustive comparison of the HuCard vs. CD. My advice is the same I gave you for Sidearms: get the cheap HuCard first, but you won't be disappointed by the CD. TWO extra levels in Super Raiden, plus a TRULY amazing redbook soundtrack that is faithful to the HuCard but still manages to impress. R-Type Complete redbook might not be everyone's cup of tea, but Super Raiden will not disappoint fans!

And, since I know that you are a definitely going to buy Jack Nicklaus Championship Golf, go for the CD version! 

[SignOfZeta]

In the end, I was just asking myself, "Why?" In some cases the answer is more forthcoming than others.

You must be a PCE late-comer or something. The "why" is simple. Anything on CD was exciting at the time. Those primitive cinemas were considered super kick-ass in 1992. Many PC Engine games are almost nothing but cinema.

Mainly after the release of the CDROM2 HuCards were developed because the userbase was larger. Not everyone had the money to blow on CDROM add-ons or Duos. This is why Bomberman '94 was a Hucard. Same with Darkwing Duck.

CD remakes were released mainly to add CD audio and cinemas to games people already liked. Usually they came out months or years after the HuCard. The same thing happened on Sega CD with stuff like Sol Feace/Sol Deace, Eternal Champions. The Sega CD also had a few situations where the CD version of the game was a poorly thrown together cash-in attempt just to get titles on CD. The worst example was probably Mortal Kombat, which was a broken POS compared to the cart...well, every version of MK ever is a broken POS, but that's beside the point.

I don't find these choices to be puzzling at all. I would have bought with out hesitation CDROM versions of Aeroblasters, Burning Angels, Street Fighter II, Ninja Spirit etc. Or, on the Sega CD, CDROM versions of The Adventures of Batman and Robin (a perfect chance for a re-release to fix the difficulty!) or Thunder Force III.

[Tatsujin]

I thought the PC Engine version of Street Fighter II turbo was better than the SNES & Genesis versions visually, but the music was kind of weak, like they just ran the arcade music through a program that converted it to PCE chip music instead of recomposing it for the system.  It definitely plays awesome with a 6 button pad.

IMO not true for the SFC version. the MD version is beaten easily indeed.

IMO the sfc version is better in all points of view. visually, soundish, technically (line scrolling etc.) and the SFC pad had one of the best cross ever. badly was only the weakness of the L/R-shoulder buttons. how many time i broke them!!?

[akamichi]

I still think that all so called bicompatible CDs are just the lower format with an extra label on the package. I will until someone can show some hard evidence to the contrary.

Well, for CD/SCD bicompatible, there's the 3rd Ranma game.  Pop it in and change between guy Ranma and girl Ranma during the battles. You'll see some loading with ver 2.x (and below) and no loading with ver 3.0 (slight pause though).  That's the only example I can think of offhand for CD/SCD where I've seen differences. 

For SCD/ACD, I know there was a thread on this before.  Most bicompatible SCD/ACD titles used the arcade card just for caching data.  Emerald Dragon and Flash Hiders are two examples of this.

[ccovell]

IMO not true for the SFC version. the MD version is beaten easily indeed.

IMO the sfc version is better in all points of view. visually, soundish, technically (line scrolling etc.)

But all 3 versions of SFII (SFC, MD, PCE) have the line scrolling on the floor.  What made you think they didn't?

[nat]

In the end, I was just asking myself, "Why?" In some cases the answer is more forthcoming than others.

You must be a PCE late-comer or something. The "why" is simple. Anything on CD was exciting at the time. Those primitive cinemas were considered super kick-ass in 1992. Many PC Engine games are almost nothing but cinema.

I've owned a TurboGrafx since 1990.

I couldn't afford a CD add-on until 1996 or so.

If that makes me a latecomer, so be it, but I would tend to disagree.

[nat]

The Side Arms HuCard has everything visually that the arcade port on Side Arms Special does, as well as most of the arcade perfect sounding sfx. But I believe that there are a few extra digitized effects in 'Special. The Before Christ mode has entirely redrawn graphics and different bosses. The gameplay is kinda different and the weapons aren't all exactly the same. Its basically a remix of the original. The CD soundtrack alone makes Side Arms Special a must own even if you already own the HuCard.

The inclusion of a CD soundtrack might sway me a bit. I was under the impression the CD just recycled the chip music.

You can find the HuCard for a pretty good price, I'd reckon. Get that if you want to play it safe.

Already done so. Picked one up on an eBay auction last week for $13 after shipping. It's in the mail to me now.

[Tatsujin]

But all 3 versions of SFII (SFC, MD, PCE) have the line scrolling on the floor.  What made you think they didn't?

how the linescrolling shows up