Game Plugs

Why do arcade games look & play better than the same games made for consoles?

For example, both Contra and Jackal, as well as the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game were made for arcade systems, and Nintendo. With Contra and Jackal, those games look and play much better in the arcade than at home. And the gameplay on the first TMNT in the arcade is much more fluid, the details more rich, and the sprites much more animated than any of the NES games about the turtles. Why is that? Why couldn't Nintendo and developers put the same level of quality into those games?

Public Comments

1. Arcade machines had newer and often custom hardware. The consoles were rarely on par with the latest hardware.
2. It was all a matter of cost. Consoles cost about $150 to make back then, while the arcade machines were typically $5,000 minimum. It's almost like asking why XBox games don't look as good as PS3 games.