Why do game reviewers/developers dislike down ports?

After hearing the talk about Dead Space Extraction on the bombcast it got me thinking about this opinion (which I've heard repeated many times by Nintendo/EA/1UP/others) that some how down ports are bad. (Definition: A down port is a port of a game to a less superior system than the original was on)

First off I think its an unfair opinion since the people that are targeted for down ports are those that don't have access to the best console version or are traveling with their handheld system.

Secondly, have we so easily forgotten the GOOD down ports over the years?

You can go back all the way to the Arcade era, where nearly every game was down ported to handful of systems. I don't think anyone with a straight face can say they didn't enjoy the countless SNES/Genesis down ports of arcade games (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, TMNT) as much as the originals unless the games were completely broken due to bugs-- and that would be the fault of the developers, not the hardware.

Its true that there are some cases where ports are simply not possible, such as Marvel vs. Capcom on the PSX. They had to butcher the gameplay to get it to work since you could not simply put 4 characters on screen at once with the amount of memory the PSX had. And perhaps Dead Rising for Wii wasn't the best port, although the philosophy behind that game wasn't to make a direct port. Dead Rising was one of the games that pushed the 360, and the port to the Wii did turn out to be a different game, but keep in mind that it was a running on a re-skinned RE4 engine.

But things are different when we're talking about graphically rich games (but not necessarily CPU/object intensive games) such as Dead Space. Remember Doom 3? That was down ported to the original Xbox from PC and it turned it to be a pretty good port. In fact, it still is one of the most played games on Xbox Live today.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was an amazing down port from the consoles to the GBA. They literally translated everything from the console game without taxing the hardware by giving it an isometric perspective. Now I know not every game would work as an isometric 2d game, but this proved that "down port" is not a dirty phrase.

The essence of Metal Gear Solid was captured in the MGS: Ghost Babel game for Game Boy Color. Rockstar was able to port GTA 3/VC to PSP. And hell, they fit the essence of the GTA4 gameplay onto the DS in Chinatown Wars.

Conversely, we've seen BAD ports or "up ports" of games with systems of equal or greater power than the original (for example: Mortal Kombat Advance, Metal Gear Solid 2 Xbox/PC, Sonic GBA). So in essence, quality of the port is not necessarily tied to the hardware.

I really think that developers can do better on Wii than rail shooters and ports of PS2 games. In fact it irked me that Peter Moore recently said that they've learned that down porting their sports games from 360/PS3 to Wii doesn't work. I want to know on what world is a PS2 port of Madden to Wii a down port of the 360/PS3 version?

It's because they aren't the target audience. Most of us on these forums aren't the target audience either. Most people on here have a 360 or PS3 and, if dead space appealed to them, will have already played it. Porting it to the wii is to bring it to new audiences, people who only own the wii.

A majority of the games you mentioned aren't down-ports.

"A majority of the games you mentioned aren't down-ports.

And the problem with down-ports is that more often than not they suck, and if the game is being developed with down-porting in mind, it may hamper the original game (see for example: Mercenaries 2, Deus Ex: Invisible War).

"

Really nice write-up, bcrt2000. I've just started playing Dead Space on the 360 and the game definitely takes some very impressive directions in terms of style and atmosphere. If Extraction can capture that same essence and bring it to the Wii, then that's awesome for Wii owners. I think the problem a lot of people have with down-ports is cross-generational development, which can really hurt all versions of the game in the long run (the Pro Evolution Soccer series has, unfortunately, become a good example of this happening). Personally, I'm all for the re-imagining of gameplay experiences on more limited hardware, providing it's done well and with a great deal of care. Metal Gear Ghost Babel is a great example of this. I was seriously impressed by what that game did considering the limitations of the GameBoy Color.

"bcrt2000 said:

"I realize Metal Gear Ghost Babel and GTA LCS/VCS contain different scenarios or stories but they are using the same gameplay mechanics. They are quite close to the original experience."

For one, you've obviously never played Metal Gear 2.  For two, Vice City Stories (can't attest to LCS, as I've never played it) has a completely different dynamic from any other GTA game, not to mention that the city itself has been subtly tweaked in ways.  If the fact that the story and characters are completely different doesn't make it a port (which it does), than that does."

And ACTUALLY, they DID NOT down-port the engine for LCS/VCS.  GTA3 and Vice City were built on Renderware whereas LCS and VCS were built on a proprietary engine that Rockstar uses for all their PSP games."