The home versions of these arcade classics are actually better than the originals

Given that arcade games have become something of a footnote in the world of video games, it's easy to forget that once upon a time, they were at the forefront of the entire industry.

Back in the day, arcade games were the pinnacle of the video game industry, running on the most powerful hardware and attracting the best development talent. These coin-op titles were instrumental in establishing some of video gaming's most popular genres and were also vital tools when it came to selling home systems, as a successful arcade title was bound to generate interest if it could be played in the comfort of your living room.

With this in mind, it's easy to see why arcade conversions dominated the sales charts in the '80s and '90s. Games like Street Fighter II, Final Fight, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Mortal Kombat, Ridge Racer, OutRun, NBA Jam and countless others were ported to home computers, consoles and handhelds after generating millions of dollars of revenue in amusement arcades all over the world.

However, due to the clear gulf in processing power between the latest coin-ops and the domestic systems of the era, the term "arcade perfect" was rarely used – and that was the case until consoles like the Dreamcast and PS2 came along.

Home ports almost always had to make some compromises, such as weaker visuals and sound, cut content or reduced features. Some arcade ports were also made not by the original developer but by external companies who lacked access to the original source code, which meant they literally had to play through the coin-op and approximate the "feel" of the game based solely on that.

While gaming has seen some pretty abysmal ports of famous arcade games, there are a few examples where the opposite is true and the home port actually shapes up (or even improves upon) the original coin-op. It became common, for example, for Sega to add features to its Mega Drive conversions to increase their value for home users, such as extra modes (Super Monaco GP, Super Hang-On) or additional levels (Golden Axe). Sega also went through a phase of creating entirely different games based on arcade releases, such as ESWAT and Shadow Dancer.

Given that some people will have experienced these ports in their home format first, it's understandable that they might prefer the domestic edition to the coin-op version – but there are some genuine examples of the home version being the "better" of the two.

For me personally, the Mega Drive port of Capcom's Strider – handled by Sega itself – feels like the superior offering. Sure, it's missing the cool spoken dialogue and doesn't look quite as good overall, but I prefer the way Strider Hiryu's redesigned sprite looks, and my memories are inexorably linked to the home port as I'd never played the arcade version at that point. This is just one example, but there are cases where I personally prefer a clearly inferior home port over the coin-op down to pure nostalgic value than anything else.

Other examples are a little more clean-cut; for example, when Soulcalibur hit the Dreamcast at the end of the decade, it was massively improved over its arcade parent because Sega's console was actually more powerful than the System 12 arcade board that powered the coin-op. Namco also added in loads of content to support the game's longevity when played at home, resulting in a conversion which, over time, has completely overshadowed the arcade original and become the 'de facto' version of the game – despite launching over a year later.

Is there a home conversion you'd pick over the arcade original, given the chance? Let us know with a comment below.