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[guesst]

<div align="center">Volfied vs Volfied</div>
A little while ago a posting on Cat Empire's web site mentioned the several arcade games they had found at a venue in Canada, including Volfied. I knew that Volfied had been recently reviewed by Abandonia so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, first I went to the Arcade version. For some reason I expected that the DOS version would suck. However, after a few rounds with the Arcade version I thought that maybe the DOS version wouldn't suck too bad and I gave it a try.

I was startled. With DOS versions of games, or for that matter home versions in general, there has been a tendancy to make sure that the scaling down process bastardizes the life out of the original. Apparently no one told the fine folks who made the DOS version of this game, tho. The home version is fantastic, and in some ways better than the original.

One thing that I didn't know about the game is that the Arcade version runs at 240x320 resolution while the home version runs at 320x240, esentally flipping the screen on it's side. For one this means that the individual sprites get to more or less be directly from one to the other. For surpassing expectaions on this a point goes to the Home version.

The DOS version doesn't have the prossessing power of the Arcade so the animations are often stunted, however. As well, in the arcade version the trail's you've traced remain even after areas have been filled in so you could see a history of how you got to where you are, but the DOS version apparently couldn't spare the processing cycles. It's eye candy that was lost, so you can't really complain much. So we give a point to the Arcade, but just barely.

But, in flipping the resoluion on it's side the DOS version had to be somewhat creative with how it layed out the board. Often times this led to a change in game play. However, the creaters of the game must have been a fan because it's obvous they tried to make it work. For example:
<div align="center"> vs </div>
In the original version on the right had 5 power-ups and enemies who bounced from the bottom of the screen. The home version on the left still had 5 power-ups, just a little squashed, and the enemies still behaved the same way. Did this alter how the level is played? A little. In the original you could make a deep canyon that the littler ones couldn't bounce out of and a shallow one next to it, esentally coralling most of the littler minions into one side before capping off the top and isolating the main bad guy. In the home version that's a bit harder to do that way. So a point goes to the Arcade.

<div align="center"> vs </div>
In this level, the original on the left had 6 power-ups around a main center power up and you started far from any of them. In the home version you only have 4 power ups around the center and start out considerably closer to them. The enemys move regardless of direction or gravity, so aside from this the level works out exactly the same. Still, point Arcade.

<div align="center"> vs </div>
This level is a split level, which is to say the main enemy consists of two parts and the object becomes seperating the left from the right. (Presumably you could capture both halfs in the same >80% hole, but why would you want to when it's easier and you get a bigger bonus for not.) In the home version the lay out is truncated, like the top of it is cut off. So getting from the top to the bottom is much easier. (Stole the screeny from Abandoinia). Point for this level goes to the DOS version.

<div align="center"> vs </div>
This level has a cluster of power-ups. The name of the game at this point is to build little by little around them until you can nab them all at once and hopefully get something that will pretty much finish off the level for you. In the home version you find these power-ups right at your door step, more so than the arcade version. Point to the DOS version.

The rest of the levels suffered very little, actually. Occasionally truncated, generally all power-ups in the Arcade version find themselves in the home version. The only real difference comes in the fact that enemies who's fire is directed more up-and-down now have a disadvantage in a game played more left-and-right, , but it goes the other way too. All in all playability doesn't suffer.

Where the DOS version takes off and whups the Arcade version can be summed up in 2 screens:
<div align="center"> and </div>
In the original you do not get to choose your difficulty (it's an arcade and as such designed to make you lose a set amount of the time) and you do not get any continues. And by continue, the game basicly gives you a few more lifes and you keep going where you left off. If you were making good progress to beating the boss and get stuck with a bit of bad luck, no problem, you still get to keep what you've done before. Here is where the DOS version pulls ahead of the Arcade version to win this Vs. match.

Something about the arcade version just feels smoother when you play it. But not so much that it over comes the lead that the DOS version gained in the last two screens. For me it's always been playability over prettyness. I like the Arcade version, but allowing continues and difficulty levels wow-ed me right off the bat and the Arcade version never really pulled ahead in my mind. Personally I still may play the Arcade version more, because it's what I started with. But if I have to recomend a version to someone I'd have to go with the DOS version.