Porting Disasters Thread

[Wadmodder Shalton]

The following PS2 and PS3 ports that were covered by MAWK3

 

[lafoxxx]

They didn’t port Condemned 2: Bloodshot to PC. I think it’s a disaster because the first one was just fantastic, top quality game in every sense, which the second part also seemed to be. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by lafoxxx

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Midnight Club 2, Manhunt 1 and Max Payne 2 - Steam versions: rather than try and recode their executables, Rockstar took a frowned upon approach by taking random cracked executables from Razor 1911 for the former two and MYTH for the latter.

 

Midnight Club 2 can't even be bought digitally due to possible licensing issues, Manhunt 1 has the crack protection system turned on by default and Max Payne 2 is barely playable on modern systems due to compatibility issues.

 

These versions really proves that Rockstar Games never properly cares or ever have the resources to fix compatibility problems with any of their PC game catalog from the 2000s compared to Take-Two's sister label 2K Games.

[AmethystViper]

Sonic Origins / Sonic Origins Plus - PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch (2022/2023); This collection should have been an easy homerun since most of the work was already done by Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead and Simon  "Stealth" Thomley, yet Sega being the Kings of Mistakes that they are, they decided to rush this dumpster fire of a collection out in time for Sonic the Hedgehog's 31st Anniversary because they haven't learned a single thing since Sonic '06 (or if I wanted to be pedantic about it, Sonic 3 & Knuckles for a McDonalds deal), so much so that Stealth vented his frustration on twitter about the state it released in. While some of the collection's problems were eventually fixed, but Sega touting this as the definitive way to experience classic Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, and CD is a misnomer, not to mention the music suffered from huge downgrades in terms of quality (S3&K having it the worst out of the lot with its butchered renditions of its prototype soundtrack). The save feature that were present in Sonic 1's and 2's mobile ports? Gone. Cool extras like having a 7th Chaos Emerald in Sonic 1 in the mobile port for legitimate access to Super forms? That's a cheat that you have to unlock now. Sleek and iconic UI/UX from the mobile ports of these games? Have a soulless and stripped down versions of these menus instead. Want to play the classic versions as they were originally presented in on the Sega Genesis? Sorry, here's a version of the mobile port that still has their own quirks still present and a 4:3 aspect-ratio because we delisted the original ROMs of these games.  Oh that's right, Sega pulled a Rockstar and Take-Two with this collection by straight up delisting virtually all of the original Genesis versions of these games from digital distribution save for the mobile ports (which are F2P) and the Sega AGES version of Sonic 1 and 2 by M2. Oh but in their place one year later with a $10 price tag you get a handful of Game Gear games... that have been already ported to other systems at least 7 times by now rather than using their superior Genesis or Master System versions for some of these games (e.g. Sonic 1 8-bit, Sonic Spinball, Meanbean Machine) with some of the other Game Gear Sonic that are generally received as average at best or awful at worst. The Story and Anniversary Modes are both redundant inclusions and honestly aren't much different from each other; this is a far cry from the Mega Man Zero Collection on the DS which similar modes to new players, but it also kept a separate version of its games without the difficulty changes for those who want to enjoy the improvements along with original challenge those games have. Oh and on PC it has DENUVO slapped on a bunch of old Genesis and now Game Gear games... Really nice of you Sega to do that to my childhood.

 

Most of the extra content it offers are stuff you can easily find on YouTube or other video hosting platform and don't stand out compared to the cool and interesting extras that were included in prior collections like Sonic Mega Collection or Sonic Jam. The DLC practices of this collection are honestly quite scummy; they couldn't be bothered to put Knuckles in the first time around, but he was included in the Plus update along with Amy, with the latter having her own hitbox issues with her aerial hammer attack and generally a watered down Sonic in comparison, then there's the plethora of minuscule extras like the privilege to look at the individual islands of the game's menus, a tacked-on mission mode, and alternate 4:3 borders that were locked to a paywall. The cherry on top of this nickel-and-dimed pile of disappointment is Sega not even willing to compensate early adaptors of the DLCs or the Digital Deluxe Edition release of Sonic Origins when the Plus update came out, so if bought this at launch, you've spent about $50-55 altogether on this collection with $10 out of that $50-55 being thrown in the garbage. You know you suck when Bethesda has shown more respect to classic Doom and Quake fans with their respective remasters and ports by Nerve Software and Nightdive Studios. While the collection mostly function now, it still leaves a lot to be desired and a bitter reminder that Sega has learned nothing after all these years.

 

* This is from the launch version of the game; most the bugs has been ironed out as of writing.

Edited March 15 by AmethystViper