The arcade levels also seemed really short to me. The boss designs were better, but the clunky movement made the experience worse IMO.

If you have any interest in emulation, there are very good Dreamcast emulators available like Redream and Flycast

Yup, that's about right. Here's a good side-by-side:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lHZuXoepSxo

That contradicts what basically any other source claims. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out! technically combines characters from both Punch Out! and the actual sequel Super Punch Out! arcade games if that is what you're getting at.

You could be right, I only own the US version. I still prefer it to the later games in the series that took on the name Soul Cailbre.

I feel like an idiot, bit also I was trying to get kids to sleep for 4 hours in the middle of the night. So can't be too hard on myself.

I'll just smack myself in the head here

Mega drive ports were generally great. Ghouls n ghosts was better than the arcade absolutely, but ghosts n goblins only had that piss poor nes port.

Super Hang On on mega drive, I love that game, but the frame rate really kills it.

Altered Beast. Amazing on mega drive, but I played the shit out of it in arcade and I just think it's not close. As a kid I absolutely did, but it feels a bit sloppy now. I started with the master system port, the MD version goddamn blew me away though!

Smash TV feels good on mega drive but I can't get down with the controls. Xeno Crisis all these years later just feels so much better somehow though

The Double Dragon port on mega drive, ouch. I love the Master system version, actually I was on the fence about putting DD on this list because I do love the Master system version more than the arcade, but that's not a convincing argument. I played so much DD arcade in the pub near where I grew up, years later I played the rom on mega drive emulator and it's not a fun time. It's the fighting and weird animation speed or something.

Primal rage is super fun on mega drive, that's how I used to play it with my cousins. It was ages later that I played an arcade version. Mega drive has the fun gameplay but that arcade version really shows how the game is carried by graphical spectacle. Obviously you won't find an arcade for comparison now, but check out the Saturn version. Just much better.

Go the other way, like the original post title actually asked for 😑. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter ports, I love the mega drive ports more, they lose graphical fidelity but they play so much more fun. Paperboy, best on mega drive. Golden Axe is definitive on the mega drive. Strider, I'll take the mega drive version all day. Alien Storm, more fun on mega drive.

If we want to talk 32x, I've still got mine from 30 years ago. Afterburner and Space Harrier are excellent. I know I said Space Harrier was better in arcade, but that's because realistically people aren't counting 32x as the console version. Space Harrier on master system is great for that system, but it's no arcade. Space Harrier 2 on mega drive, same as hang on, just should have been great but almost unplayable frame rate.

Final Fight on mega cd is a very good port. Still not as good as the arcade, but as enjoyable.

Final Fight on SNES was just bad. Guy removed as a character choice. No two player mode. An incredibly low sprite limit, like no more than 3 or 4 characters on screen at once. One of the stages is cut out.

I totally get that. Every other game has A for jump, B for shoot, with some subtle variations on top of that. That muscle-memory runs deep. Then this game comes along like "I'm going to destroy this man's whole career" by changing out jump for "do wildly different stuff depending on which way the d-pad is leaning."

I don't know how old you were, but there was a specific time in the early to mid 90s where fighting games were extremely popular in arcades and places where arcade games tended to be (bowling alleys, pizza places, etc). Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were basically everywhere on release and didn't get console ports right away.

Not op, but I think I played it on SNES?