Ports have been around since gaming begun, allowing developers to bring finished games to newer platforms at minimal expense.
Doom is perhaps the biggest case of this, releasing on more platforms than many knew even existed.
Skyrim and Resident Evil are the main modern titles prone to endless ports, with Bethesda and Capcom seemingly prepared to release them on every new platform when given the chance. We’re also guaranteed retro compilation sets from Sega and Atari.
There’s nothing wrong with making games more widely available but sometimes developers go that step further, creating versions of games that prove wildly different to the original when bringing it to a new platform.
It’s rarer these days, especially now remakes and remasters are a popular option for old games but it used to be a very common occurrence, most evident in portable editions, which often force developers to make sacrifices for downgraded hardware.
They make for interesting history by comparison however, in many cases developed by completely new teams. These are some of the more prominent examples.
