Game Pilgrimage

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The NEO GEO original and Genesis versions run at 320x240, while the PC-Engine Arcade Card CD and SNES versions run at 256x224. This means that the SNES and PC-Engine versions run with almost 20,000 fewer pixels total in comparison to the original or Genesis versions. Furthermore, almost a quarter of the screen is covered by a black bar, behind the energy bars, in the SNES and PC-Engine versions, whereas the NEO GEO and Genesis versions display background graphics behind the energy bars and are not letterboxed in any way.

The NEO GEO and PC-Engine Arcade Card versions have the largest and most animated characters, while the Genesis game stays in the exact size of the NEO GEO original's scaled out size at all times. It is worth noting, however, that the characters are redrawn for the Genesis and are more detailed than the original version's scaled out characters. The SNES game is also scaled down, but the characters are slightly larger than the Genesis version's and also of a noticeably lower detail level and lack the most animation of any of the other versions.

The NEO GEO original features full scene scaling as characters move closer and further away from each other. This action is not on a subtle scale, but rather, when characters hit the edge of the scaled in screen size, the entire scene zooms out quickly to a more widescreen image. The Super Nintendo version is the only home conversion which even attempts the animated zoom effect of the arcade original, and it mimics true scaling quite well, though possibly to the detriment of character animation and sprite detail. The PC-Engine Arcade Card CD version also zooms out, but does not attempt to animate the effect. Instead, this version switches into the PC-Engine's "high resolution" mode and letter boxes the image. This is not exemplified by Magic Engine, as the scaled out image loses the outer edges that are visible on the actual console. The Genesis version already features the scaled out image, which is roughly the size of the Street Fighter II games, and replaces the animated zoom effect with line scrolling floors and more background parallax. Neither the NEO GEO original, nor the other two versions feature scrolling floors or parallax in the backgrounds as the Genesis game does.

Audio quality scales predictably down from the NEO GEO version, to the PC-Engine CD-ROM game, to the SNES, with the Genesis at the last. That is not to say that any version sounds bad on its own, but the NEO GEO and PC-Engine CD games mimic each other more closely than the remixed and reverb happy SNES game, and the Genesis version is tailored for its unique analog sound chip. Voice samples are noticeably grainy in the Genesis version, noticeably muffled and heavily modified for the SNES version, and virtually identical for the NEO GEO and PC-Engine CD versions.

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SNES