What are some distinct differences in developing games for arcade hardware, as opposed to home consoles?
HK: The biggest difference is that games in arcades simply can’t have players doing nothing for long stretches of time. You can’t have excessive load time or anything like that. That’s the reason why arcade hardware has much more memory than the home consoles. 1UP: Yes, arcade machines do have a lot of RAM. But won’t it be a problem to convert the newest generation of arcade titles to the home consoles? HK: It’s not that difficult when compared to past generations, but the memory issue is always something we struggle with. But again, a big difference between arcade and console games is that the console game has to offer long-term enjoyment and value for its purchase price. That is another hurdle that has to be overcome when you do arcade-to-home ports. 1UP: Which is why VF4 on PS2 had so many additional modes in it. HK: Yes, precisely. 1UP: So in the past, arcade hardware was leaps and bounds ahead of home consoles, while these days they’re just about even. Some people in the field see
