9 replies to this topic

[jhd]

I have recently been playing Final Fantasy VI on the PlayStation. Almost all of the early FF titles are available for the PSX as part of Final Fantasy Origins, Final Fantasy Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Anthology. FF III is not available, but Chrono Trigger has been substituted.

It is obviously not an emulator because the PSX does not have the power to emulate SNES (or NES?) games, and the in-game instructions have been all changed to reference the PSX control pad. I have not played the originals, but it looks like some of the background graphics have been improved too.

Does anyone have any information on how these titles were ported from the NES/SNES? I assume that the originals were coded in assembly language, and that would be a massive challenge to convert to completely different hardware.

Were any other NES/SNES titles ported over to the PSX? -- perhaps some Japan-only releases/titles

[Austin]

Each of the first six Mega Man games were ported to the PlayStation in Japan.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts from the SNES was ported to it as well through the Capcom Generation 2 pack in Japan. I hear this was released on a Capcom pack in the UK as well.

[Greg2600]

Bubble Bobble/Rainbow Islands appear as a single game on the Playstation.

[Austin]

Greg2600, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:07 PM, said:

Bubble Bobble/Rainbow Islands appear as a single game on the Playstation.

I believe those were ports of the arcade versions though, not the NES ones. At least that's how the Saturn version was (it's probably the same).

[toptenmaterial]

If I recall correctly, there is a version of the first NES Castlevania on PSX called Castlevania Chronicles.

As for the FF series, Nintendo no longer had restrictive controls over 3rd party publishers in the 90s, so they could more or less release what they wanted.

[toptenmaterial]

If I recall correctly, there is a version of the first NES Castlevania on PSX called Castlevania Chronicles.

As for the FF series, Nintendo no longer had restrictive controls over 3rd party publishers in the 90s, so they could more or less release what they wanted.

[Austin]

toptenmaterial, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:28 PM, said:

If I recall correctly, there is a version of the first NES Castlevania on PSX called Castlevania Chronicles.

That was a port of Akumajo X68000, a Sharp X68000-only version of Castlevania. It's true it's a remake of sorts, but it's not a port like the OP is inquiring about.

[fiddlepaddle]

jhd, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:10 PM, said:

Does anyone have any information on how these titles were ported from the NES/SNES? I assume that the originals were coded in assembly language, and that would be a massive challenge to convert to completely different hardware.

Were any other NES/SNES titles ported over to the PSX? -- perhaps some Japan-only releases/titles

In theory, emulation could include a combination of machine language interpretation and translation, with tweaks to graphics, instructions, etc, making the porting process much easier and faster.  Don't forget that the PS hardware was originally developed FOR Nintendo, and there may be software tools developed (and since improved) by either Nintendo or Sony in-house at that time just for this purpose.  Such tools (or clones of such tools) could also easily move to third parties as programmers move from company to company.

[Bloodreign]

Didn't Sunsoft have some Memorial Collections that basically had NES games like Ikki, Hebereke, and some of their other works on it?

[Austin]

Bloodreign, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:39 AM, said:

Didn't Sunsoft have some Memorial Collections that basically had NES games like Ikki, Hebereke, and some of their other works on it?

Yep.