Times where a port or renderer for a game has "objectively worse" graphics but you like the resulting look better anyway

[Glowsquid]

Question is straightforwarded enough. Are there any times where a version of a game may be stripped down to 4 colours and 2 shades of black or lack all manner of fancy motion blur and bloom effects, but as a result, you actually like the resulting look better?

My go-to example is the Saturn version of Hi-Octane. It removes the textures from the vehicles, which is objectively a pretty unacceptable downgrade when the base game is already so basic and ugly, but as it turns out, I actually kind of like the stripped-down Star Fox-esque cars better.

Another is Truxton on Genesis. The sprites were well-translated to the Genny’s hardware and I thought the gritter colour palette actually fitted the tone of your average Toaplan shooter better than the almost pastel pallete of the arcade version.

What are yours?

[Yakumo]

WTF someone trying to muscle their way in on my show, Battle Of The Ports.
They’ve got a long way to go if they want to catch up to almost 300 shows.

[poptart]

I really prefer the look of Dragon Quest 3 on GBC to the earlier SNES remake. It has a demake feel to it that’s really charming.

Kinda hard to capture in screenshots alone:

[matt]

I prefer DS MaBoShi for its CGA style:

Over the parental Wii version:

[Peltz]

Yoshi’s Cookie looks better on NES:

http://www.defunctgames.com/pic/review-yoshiscookienes-big-1.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSWscVIvhhBUO2-nhioWv6YdeFUQli2jQClgbcuaCv_IVwRmgeq

I like the clean black background and Mario’s Chef hat. It’s the canon version of the game too since Mario Odyssey paid homage to that chef hat.

[raskulous]

Nothing to add, but the fact that the PC version isn’t included for the Hi-Octane comparison is sacrilege.

For me, the frame rate on the Saturn version is too low, and there’s no way I would be able to enjoy it.

[raskulous]

I know that they are actually different games, but the Master System version of Castle of Illusion is a much more fun, polished experience. It’s got better puzzle elements, faster gameplay, and better platforming imo.

[Eccles]

Need for Speed IV: High Stakes

PS1
The first version I played, so probably have more fondness for it.
Extra points for having the R34 Skyline in the Japanese release. And the Ford XR8 and Holden GTS in the Australian version.

PC
Always looks a bit skinny to me

[matt]

This is how most PC to Switch ports look!