Saturn vs. PSX -> konami shooters

[DreamerNL]

I was wondering which versions of parodius, gradius etc. are the best? ARE there any notable changes?

I have all the deluxe packs on my Saturn, but still I'd like to know...

[neorichieb1971]

There are some topics on this forum related to this question.

From memory I read both consoles versions of each game were almost identical with only very slight differences.

[BulletMagnet]

To the best of my knowledge what neorichie says is true, at least in most cases...another thing worth noting, however, is that the PS1 versions tend to be rarer and more expensive than the Saturn ones, although some received re-releases.

[CAVE man]

Can anyone tell me if Salamander on the Saturn has an FMV intro? the PSX version does and I don't remember seeing it in the Saturn version.

Parodius deluxe pack on the Playstation doesn't have the streched screen mode like the saturn, its arcade screen only. The PSX version has a lot of slowdown on Goku Parodius at the belly dancer boss. Is it the same as in the saturn version? Also I noticed that the Saturn has more slowdown in the opening stages of goku compared to the PSX game.

[ccovell]

Doesn't Oshaberi Parodius (or another?) on the PSX also have an extra game with many enemies constructed with 3D polygons? I'm sure I've read about that difference somewhere before...

[professor ganson]

I've heard that the PS version of the Parodius Deluxe Pack suffers from slowdown. Does anyone know whether the Saturn version is better in this regard?

[EmperorIng]

Salamander Deluxe on the Saturn does indeed have an opening FMV. Two if I recall (might be mistaken).

[BIL]

I tried to wrangle up a definitive slowdown comparison between PS and SS Paro Deluxe Packs, a couple years back when I got my copy... although there was some ambiguity, I found recurring comments on Gokujou running overall smoother on Saturn, so I went with that version. AFAIK it's not a clean-cut Strikers II Saturn vs PS comparison.

edit: post from elbarto that I found helpful

There's not a lot between the Saturn and PSone versions to be honest.

Goku Deluxe Pack - PS has an hidden alternative stage for Da, but Goku runs a bit choppier than on the Saturn.

Oshaberi - As the Cap'n said, different exclusive modes, but neither are a deal maker (I play with them both switched off most of the time). Other than that, almost identical.

Sexy - damn near identical.

[professor ganson]

Awesome, BIL. Really appreciate the wisdom!

[BrianC]

There's also the MSX collections that had multiple collections with a few games on PSX and one disc collecting all of the games ported to PSX for Saturn. Revelent becuase they include shmups. I know the PSX collections have codes for special features in some games like Pentaro in Gradius 2 (if I remember correctly). I'm not sure if the Saturn version has the same codes.

[BIL]

Should be noted that according to MSX enthusiast Shatterhand, the Saturn version's emulation is better (apparently it's a bit fast on some games, where the PS1 is consistently too slow).

I want to get into the MSX Gradiuses and Salamander for their interesting deviations and killer tunes, but man... the combination of precise shooter action and brutally choppy scrolling is hard to adjust for. Still not given up though.

[GSK]

I want to get into the MSX Gradiuses and Salamander for their interesting deviations and killer tunes, but man... the combination of precise shooter action and brutally choppy scrolling is hard to adjust for. Still not given up though.

M2'S Salamander collection for PSP includes a "smooth scrolling" version of Gradius 2 MSX, but I can't vouch for it as I haven't played it. (No Salamander MSX in that compilation, oddly enough.)

There's also a fan patch that adds smoother scrolling and some other enhancements, which you can find (along with a lot of other MSX enhancement patches) here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13QWpZ1Cao

[BIL]

Thanks. That hack (edit: patch, rather) looks great... maybe it'd make more sense to get a 1chip MSX or something for these games. Normally I'm all for The Real Thing, sprite flicker and all, but MSX1 scrolling chop is something else. I'm not quite motivated enough to start an MSX collection just yet though.

[Shatterhand]

Just to confirm what Bil said about what I said. (Heh).

The MSX compilation is better on Saturn, not just because it has all games on just one release, but the emulation is far better. In both version there are problems with the emulation in a few games, but nothing game-breaking on the Saturn (Games go too fast in some spots where they shouldn't), while the PS1 version has slower emulation. This is really clear with Konami's Ping-Pong... Level 5 on Saturn is like playing on MSX, Level 5 on PSX is a lot slower.. which makes it easier and a lot less fun when played with 2 players.

Edit: I see now Bil actually linked where I first posted about this. There's more info on that link

[BIL]

Thanks for the confirmation! Truly our forum is a haven of sweet tacos and obscure version info. ^__^

[Mero]

By sheer coincidence before this talk of 32-bit MSX ports cropped up I bought a copy of PSX Antiques Collection 2. I don't have it with me yet so I checked out a few vids once I realised some of the emulation on PSX might be a bit dodgy. I've seen a vid showing a credit played on each of the games on Volume 2 and some of them are obviously running slow even though I've never seen them on original hardware (Knightmare, probably Gradius 2). Twinbee (the game I bought it for) didn't really look different from the other Twinbee MSX video's I've watched recently so hopefully that one won't be too bad.

[BrianC]

Yeah, emulation seemed fine on Saturn, but some games seemed slightly fast in parts. Then again, I never played the games on real hardware and blue MSX played some games a bit slow on my older comp. I think my current comp runs it faster, but I haven't used blueMSX on it. I'm curious what holding down certain buttons before playing some games does since the border changes from black to white for some games in the Saturn collection, if I remember correctly.

[Shatterhand]

Really? What games do this border color change? I have the game here, give more info and I may investigante if anything different happens with the games.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Question for notoriuos pirates with chipped PSX - how good homebrew NES emulation really is on the thing? Memorial Series gave me impression it had what it took, but maybe those heppened to be ports?

[BrianC]

Really? What games do this border color change? I have the game here, give more info and I may investigante if anything different happens with the games.

I don't remember which games. I just remember holding a button down (probably the a button) and seeing a white or grey border (don't remember which). I didn't notice any other effects.

Edit: seems my memory was a bit foggy. Holding X, Y, or Z in conjunction with A or Start seems to change the display mode. Z and A or start seems to be full screen mode. Y with A or start seems to have the border color change according to the colors on screen. Not sure what X and A or start does.