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00:00Oh, this won't last long enough for that to happen. You will be down in no time.
00:06Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're looking at games that were ported or re-released later with
00:11serious downgrades. We aren't talking about a slight resolution downscale to get from PS4 to
00:16Switch. We're talking about games that didn't deserve to see the light of day. These are the
00:2120 most disappointing video game downgrades. Let's go. Before we continue, we publish content all
00:26week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified of our latest videos.
00:33Silent Hill HD Collection 7th Generation Port
00:45The Silent Hill HD Collection should have been an easy win. Konami only needed to preserve Silent
00:50Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, polish the visuals and let two horror classics terrify a new audience.
00:55Instead, the 2012 release introduced technical problems, altered voices, awkward textures and
01:00scenery that looked worse than before. Oh, and Comic Sans. The biggest loss was the famous Fog,
01:06which once hid distant horrors and gave the town its suffocating atmosphere. With much of it removed,
01:11empty streets became clearly visible, exposing details the original games deliberately concealed.
01:17Character models also received little meaningful improvement, making the entire package feel rushed
01:21rather than restored. Somehow, Konami remastered two masterpieces and made fans wish they'd simply
01:28left the dusty old versions alone.
01:37X-Men vs Street Fighter PlayStation Port
01:39X-Men vs Street Fighter helped make tag team fighting a major part of the genre. In the arcade version,
01:46players could swap characters mid-match, recover health while resting, call partners in for quick
01:50assists and unleash huge team attacks that covered most of the screen. The Sega Saturn Port handled
01:55all of this brilliantly. The PlayStation version, however, arrived missing the feature that made the
02:00game special. Players could still choose two fighters, but proper mid-battle switching was totally
02:05removed. On top of that, the port suffered from rough animations, slowdowns, long loading times and messy
02:11audio. For once, the supposedly doomed Saturn delivered the stronger version. Who'd have thought?
02:25SimCity 2000 Sega Saturn Port
02:32The Saturn version of SimCity 2000 looked impressive at a first glance.
02:36Sega added 3D animations, FMV scenes, upgraded sound effects and a CD-quality soundtrack,
02:42making it seem like this would be the definitive console edition.
02:45Unfortunately, the actual city building was where everything collapsed.
02:49See what I did there?
02:51Blurry visuals made precise placement difficult, while the oversized interface swallowed a huge portion of the screen.
02:57Some of the best features, including disasters, were also missing from base release.
03:00But the biggest problem arrived once a city began growing, as the game slowed down more and more and more
03:07with every new building.
03:08Eventually, expanding your settlement felt like asking the Saturn to power the game on a single AAA battery.
03:16Carmageddon 64 Nintendo 64 Port
03:28Carmageddon 64 took everything that made the PC original enjoyable and drove it directly into a wall.
03:33The series was never really about proper racing.
03:36It was about reckless destruction, ridiculous crashes and turning pedestrians into road decorations.
03:41On Nintendo 64, however, the handling became painfully unresponsive.
03:44Even light bumps could launch cars into the air, and the lack of track map made getting lost almost unavoidable.
03:50The violence was also heavily toned down, with regular pedestrians replaced by zombies that exploded into bright green slime.
03:57That removed much of the game's nasty personality without making it any better to play.
04:01I want to run over a dude and make him dead, not run over a dead dude and make him
04:05slime.
04:12Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop Wii Port
04:20After Resident Evil 4 performed so well on the Wii, Capcom understandably thought Dead Rising could enjoy the same treatment.
04:27Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop even used the same engine, but the hardware and rushed development forced some brutal
04:32compromises.
04:33Frank's photography system vanished completely, missions became far more linear, and the open-ended structure of the Xbox 360 original
04:40was heavily reduced.
04:42The biggest problem was the zombie count.
04:44Where the original could flood them all with hundreds of enemies, the Wii version could only manage a fraction of
04:49that chaos.
04:50Considering mowing through enormous crowds was the entire appeal, this was like releasing Tetris without most of the blocks.
04:57God, that's a good comparison.
04:58Let me try another.
04:59This was like releasing God of War without the of...
05:02God damn it, should have quit while I was ahead.
05:07Batman Arkham Knight PC Port
05:09Nothing.
05:10We think there's a skeleton crew left in there, but they're not responding and the facility's locked down.
05:15If they're still alive, I'll find them.
05:18They should be able to tell us what Scarecrow's up to.
05:20The PC release of Batman Arkham Knight turned one of gaming's most anticipated finales into a technical disaster.
05:27Even powerful computers struggled with constant stuttering, sudden frame drops, muddy textures, and crashes that made Gotham feel less like
05:34a city and more like a broken slideshow.
05:36The problems were so severe that Warner Brothers temporarily removed the game from sales, which is much more rare than
05:42you'd think.
05:42It returned months later with promises of major improvements, but plenty of issues still remained, especially during combat, gliding, and
05:49Batmobile sections.
05:51These moments depended on smooth performance, so every hitch made Batman look strangely unprepared.
05:56Refunds were eventually offered, leaving the PC version remembered as one of the worst major ports of its era.
06:06Deus Ex PlayStation 2 port
06:09What are my orders when I reach the command center?
06:12Interrogate the leader. We don't yet know why the terrorists would risk an open assault.
06:15Deus Ex earned its reputation by giving players an unusual amount of freedom.
06:20Missions could be solved through combat stealth, hacking conversations, or whatever strange plan happened to work.
06:25Bringing that level of complexity to the PS2 was always going to require sacrifices,
06:29and the console version made quite a few.
06:31Large environments were divided into smaller sections, with extra walls added to hide shorter draw distances and reduce technical strain.
06:38Several mechanics were also simplified, or just removed, including the detailed system that tracked damage to individual body parts,
06:45which, by the way, was the draw for a lot of players in terms of gameplay.
06:48The core story and choice-driven design survived, but the world felt less open and reactive.
06:54It was an impressive conversion, although clearly one squeezed through hardware that was begging for mercy.
07:10Half-Life 2 Xbox port
07:23Seeing Half-Life 2 running on the original Xbox was impressive by itself,
07:27considering the game had been treated as an early showcase for next-generation PC technology.
07:32Unsurprisingly, Valve's ambitious shooter did not arrive without serious cuts.
07:36Textures became muddier, lighting and visual effects were reduced,
07:39and the framerate regularly struggled whenever firefights became too busy.
07:43Larger locations were also chopped into smaller chunks,
07:46creating extra loading screens that lasted for the same amount of time between Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2.
07:51The story, physics, and core gameplay remained surprisingly intact,
07:54but the hardware was clearly fighting for its life.
07:57Wait, I just made that joke before.
07:59Moving on.
08:04StarCraft 64
08:06Nintendo 64 port
08:15StarCraft 64 deserves some credit simply for existing.
08:19Blizzard somehow squeezed the original StarCraft and much of the Brood War expansion
08:23onto a Nintendo 64 cartridge, which feels like packing an office building into a lunchbox.
08:28Unfortunately, real-time strategy games depend on fast-clicking, precise unit selection,
08:33and constant movement across the map,
08:34none of which suit the console's enormous space invaders-looking controller.
08:38Commands feel slow, the interface is awkward,
08:40and managing large armies becomes far more exhausting than it should be.
08:46Not enough minerals.
08:49Give me some issue.
08:51Command & Conquer 64 Nintendo 64 port
08:54War-Torn Bialystok wants a happy farming town for peace-loving peasants.
08:58Today, a slaughterhouse.
08:59Yet one more casualty in the insane GDI assault against mankind.
09:02By the time Command & Conquer reached the Nintendo 64 in 1999,
09:07Command & Red Alert had already been available on PlayStation for years,
09:10making the release feel really late.
09:13The port did bring upgraded 3D visuals,
09:15replacing the original sprites with polygonal units and buildings.
09:18Unfortunately, several sacrifices came with that makeover.
09:22Audio quality took a noticeable hit due to heavy compression,
09:25while the live-action FMV scenes were completely removed.
09:28Those wonderfully cheesy briefings were a huge part of the series' personality,
09:33so losing them made the campaign feel far more hollow.
09:36You got it.
09:38You got it.
09:40You got it.
09:41I'm on it.
09:42Diablo PlayStation Port
09:44This place has been fouled.
09:52Long before Diablo 3 made console dungeon crawling feel normal,
09:57the original Diablo quietly appeared on PlayStation in 1998.
10:01Bringing Blizzard's PC classic to Sony's machines was impressive,
10:05but the conversion came with a few painful compromises.
10:07The visuals were noticeably rougher,
10:09movement felt less precise without a mouse,
10:11and saving the game consumed 10 of the PlayStation memory card's 15 blocks.
10:16That's not a save file, that's just an inconvenience.
10:18Still, the port offered one major advantage over the PC release,
10:22local two-player cooperative play.
10:24Being able to explore, tristram, gather loot,
10:26and accidentally steal every useful item from a friend
10:29made the technical sacrifices easier to forgive.
10:32Still, a little disappointing.
10:38The Outer Worlds Nintendo Switch Port
10:48The Nintendo Switch has hosted some brilliant games,
10:52but raw power has never been its greatest strength.
10:54The Outer Worlds exposed that weakness more than most.
10:58Obsidian's colourful sci-fi RPG looked sharp
11:00and ran smoothly enough on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC,
11:03yet the Switch version arrived looking like someone
11:05had smeared Vaseline across the galaxy.
11:08Textures loaded late,
11:10firefights dragged the framerate down,
11:12and lengthy loading screens regularly broke up exploration.
11:15Characters and environments also lost a huge amount of detail,
11:18making an already compromised port feel even more compromised.
11:22The story, humour, and excellent companions were still there,
11:24but the technical problems constantly got in the way.
11:31Fallout New Vegas PlayStation 3 Port
11:33Fallout New Vegas is one of the best written RPGs of its era,
11:43but its console versions often felt held together with duct tape and optimism.
11:48Framerate drops appear early,
11:50yet the real trouble starts once the save file grows.
11:52Completing more quests, visiting more locations,
11:55and collecting more items can slowly drag performers into the ground.
11:58Eventually, crashes, freezes, and long pauses
12:01become almost as common as dialogue choices.
12:04Bethesda's engine already had a shaky reputation on consoles,
12:07and Obsidian clearly inherited every loose screw.
12:10It's a recipe for disaster that you see more and more with bad ports,
12:13a game getting worse as you play it more.
12:23Doom 3DO Port
12:34The 3DO version of Doom began with huge promises,
12:39and ended as one of the series' roughest translations.
12:41Plans originally included new enemies and weapons,
12:44levels, and FMV scenes,
12:46but disastrous management left programmer Rebecca Heinemann
12:49only 10 weeks to finish the entire port.
12:51That's not very long, by the way.
12:53It's almost the same amount of time
12:55they had to develop the infamously terrible E.T. Atari game.
12:58Most of the new ideas were immediately thrown overboard,
13:02just to get the game working.
13:03What remained suffered from long loading screens,
13:06dull colours, thick borders,
13:07and a frame rate that made demons look strangely exhausted.
13:10The original soundtrack was also missing,
13:12replaced by recordings from the company's CEO's own band.
13:16Somehow, that really happened.
13:24Ark Survival Evolved Nintendo Switch Port
13:33Ark Survival Evolved has always been rough around the edges,
13:37but its original Switch release
13:38looked like it had been dragged through a swamp first.
13:41The visuals were extremely blurry,
13:42environments felt empty,
13:44and many trees and rocks
13:45appeared to be made from leftover polygons.
13:47Even after cutting back so much detail,
13:49the game still struggled with long loading times,
13:52unstable performance,
13:52and frequent technical problems.
13:54Just so many problems.
13:56What saves this version from complete disaster
13:59is the later rebuild by Grove Street Games,
14:02which dramatically improved the port
14:03and turned it into something far more respectable.
14:05Survival was already demanding enough in this game
14:07without the console itself becoming another predator.
14:21Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition Zeebo Port
14:31Resident Evil 4 has appeared on nearly everything with a screen,
14:34but the Zeebo version may be the strangest stop on Leon's world tour.
14:37Based on Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition,
14:40this heavily reduced port removed cutscenes,
14:43weapons, enemies, blood, and several major locations.
14:45Pretty much everything, really.
14:47Levels were split into separate stages,
14:49automatically pushing players forward
14:51instead of allowing the smoother exploration found in the original.
14:54The entire campaign could also be finished in about three hours,
14:58making Leon's rescue mission feel more like a rushed afternoon errand.
15:01Hardware limitations explain many of the cuts,
15:03but they do not explain why Capcom thought this version needed to exist
15:07in the first place.
15:15No Man's Sky Nintendo Switch Port
15:23Running No Man's Sky on the original Switch is impressive,
15:28but the console clearly has to make some painful sacrifices.
15:31Multiplayer is completely removed,
15:33meaning players can't explore with friends,
15:35visit the Nexus properly,
15:37or join weekend missions.
15:38Almost the only reason people still play this game.
15:41Several base building features and larger settlements are also missing,
15:45cutting back parts of the experience that help the universe feel alive.
15:48Visually, the game relies heavily on changing resolution to stay functional,
15:53so textures can become extremely blurry when docked.
15:55Flying across planets also exposes obvious pop-in,
15:59with objects appearing only moments before you reach them.
16:01The galaxy is still enormous,
16:03but on older Switch hardware,
16:05it sometimes looks like the universe is loading one tree at a time.
16:17The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Nintendo Switch Port
16:20Getting the entire adventure of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt running on Nintendo Switch is genuinely impressive,
16:31even if the result occasionally looks like Geralt forgot to put his glasses on.
16:35The massive world, lengthy story expansions, and countless side quests
16:38are all available on the portable system,
16:41which is a technical achievement.
16:43Predictably, visual detail, resolutions, textures, and foliage
16:46were heavily reduced to make everything fit.
16:48Performance can also struggle in busier areas,
16:51but many players accept these sacrifices for the freedom to explore the continent anywhere.
16:55Cross-save support with PC versions makes the package even more convenient.
16:59Still, anyone with access to a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or capable PC
17:03will find a much sharper experience elsewhere.
17:07You know, I think it's a great plan all round, and I'm always glad to help.
17:11Max Payne 2 The Fall of Max Payne PlayStation 2 Port
17:20Max Payne 2 worked reasonably well on Xbox,
17:24but the PlayStation 2 version looked like the console was begging for a quiet retirement.
17:28During larger gunfights, the frame rate could collapse so badly
17:31that Max's famous slow-motion ability almost felt permanently active.
17:35Visual quality also took a major hit,
17:37with muddy textures, simplified environments, and character faces
17:40losing much of the detail seen on PC.
17:43The story and bullet-time combat were still present,
17:46but the technical problems made every intense encounter hard to enjoy.
17:49Comparing the versions side-by-side was especially painful for PlayStation 2 owners,
17:54who received something that looked less like a stylish noir shooter,
17:57and more like a very dramatic slideshow.
17:59Wait! The mob guys attacked us!
18:01I have no beef with you guys!
18:03You took them out!
18:04Listen, I work for Vladimir!
18:06Mortal Kombat 1 Nintendo Switch Port.
18:09Break something.
18:11Oh, this won't last long enough for that to happen.
18:14You will be down in no time.
18:16Fight!
18:17After Mortal Kombat 11 struggled on Switch,
18:20players probably hoped Mortal Kombat 1 would arrive in better shape.
18:23Somehow, it looked rougher.
18:25Character faces became strangely stiff,
18:27textures lose huge amount of details,
18:29and clipping issues regularly sent clothing, skin, and weapons through each other,
18:34and not on purpose.
18:35The visual downgrade was bad enough, but performance made things worse.
18:39Loading screens dragged on, backgrounds appeared late,
18:42fights slowed down to an almost halt,
18:45and bugs seemed almost as common as fatalities.
18:48The core combat was still buried underneath,
18:49yet the presentation made this version feel really unfinished.
18:53Mortal Kombat 1 may have offered an exciting new direction for the series,
18:57but on Switch, it looked like every fighter had been designed from memory.
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19:14A while to practice owned by Sandra Kasich.
19:17Yeah.
19:24Thanks for listening,
19:25Thanks for listening,
19:25Bye.
19:25Bye.
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