History Main / ScreenCrunch

** 'VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' is an interesting case. The developers made an effort to curb the issues that the previous game had by making the sprites slightly smaller. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough; the game's primary goal of finding lums can be a chore in the later levels and some levels rely on TrialAndErrorGameplay for difficulty. Its sequel, ''VideoGame/RaymanRavingRabbids'' wasn't any better about this.

* The ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' games weren't ports from the NES, but they used the same sprites which makes the play area really cramped. Also, the [[LifeMeter energy meters]] take up the bottom 16 pixels of the screen, making the play area that much smaller.

** Despite being a ReformulatedGame, ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' focused more on sprite detail than playability. This made the game's primary goal (finding lums) much more difficult than it should have been and made later levels border on TrialAndErrorGameplay. Its sequel, ''VideoGame/RaymanRavingRabbids'' wasn't any better about this.

** A frequent criticism of the ''VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy'' is that the games {{invoke|dTrope}} this trope [[FakeDifficulty for difficulty]] by hiding spikes and crushers off-screen until it's too late for the player to react.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAdvance'' games aren't affected as much due to their smaller sprites and gameplay better translating to horizontal movement. All games attempted to make up for this by adding extra content, giving the player more opportunities to get extra lives, and, for the first two games and ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', adding vertical scrolling for the camera button. ''Super Mario Advance 4: VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' suffers the least as the original NES game already had a smaller viewing resolution from the large HUD which the remake completely replaces with a thin [[StatusLine status bar]], and [[https://themushroomkingdom.net/smb3_snes2sma.shtml a lot of levels have been edited]] to better suit the smaller screen.

* The Game Gear ports of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog18Bit'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog28Bit'', which were originally made for the Platform/SegaMasterSystem, suffered from this badly.
** While the former game took ''many'' measures to make the game easier (like removing Jungle Zone Act 2's RatchetScrolling), the latter game didn't even bother, making certain levels ('''especially''' Green Hills Act 3) an absolute nightmare to complete.
** Interestingly, the first game saw a case of Screen Crunch that benefited the player. In the first boss of the game, Robotnik floats at the top of the screen, before descending and charging across the bottom of the screen. In the Master System version, he has to be attacked while he descends, but in the Game Gear version, the smaller screen means he can be hit while at the top of the screen, to the point that he can be defeated before he even gets the chance to descend.

** Inverted with ''VideoGame/SonicBlast'', because the game was designed with the Game Gear's screen in mind. Specifically, the larger screen size allows Sonic to move further in the boss arenas: Desert Zone shows Robotnik start the attack while on-screen (rather than changing stance off-screen), and Red Volcano gives more room behind the Robotnik as he jumps up for the attack. The bounceback from hitting the boss also means Sonic is propelled further, thus requiring a slightly different pattern through the battle. Also, the extended screensize also has a visual glitch in Blue Marine Zone Act 3 when at the bottom of the level.

* ''VideoGame/SonicJam'' on the Platform/GameCom had assets taken straight from the Genesis ''Sonic'' games--big sprites and all. Because of this, you'll often find yourself taking a LeapOfFaith, hoping you survive (or not, given the [[PortingDisaster quality of the remake]]).

* ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'' on the Plaform/NGage would have been a PolishedPort of the GBA version... if it wasn't for the aforementioned screen. It's nearly impossible to see anything to the side of you, including the race track. In a misguided attempt to fix this, the camera is much more jumpy which only makes things worse.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 3|Hoodlum Havoc}}'' was a port of the GBA version (itself a victim of this trope as seen above), trading in horizontal screen space for vertical. The already [[GuideDangIt hard-to-find]] lums have become even harder to locate thanks to the resolution and fighting enemies has become an absolute chore.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAdvance'' games aren't affected as much due to their smaller sprites and gameplay better translating to horizontal movement. All games attempted to make up for this by adding extra content, giving the player more opportunities to get extra lives, and, for the first two games and ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', adding vertical scrolling for the camera button. ''Super Mario Advance 4: VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' suffers the least as the original NES game already had a smaller viewing resolution from the large HUD which the remake completely replaces with a thin status bar, and [[https://themushroomkingdom.net/smb3_snes2sma.shtml a lot of levels have been edited]] to better suit the smaller screen.

-->-- '''LetsPlay/ProtonJon''', playing ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' on [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and comparing it to the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor remake

This trope was [[TropeCodifier codified]] with the release of the UsefulNotes/GameBoy in 1989, though it wouldn't become infamous until the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance due to the many ports on that system.

For reference: the original [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] has a resolution of 256×240, the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] supports several from 256×224 to 512×448 (interlaced), the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem is 256×192 and the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis supports several from 256×224 to 320×480 (interlaced).

* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' is a ''doozy''. As the graphics, which were of a 256×224 game, were ported more or less 1:1 to the UsefulNotes/AtariLynx (aside from some sundry alterations such as the player's foot during a kick), this means you're getting only ''28%'' of what the arcade game offered and character sprites stand at almost ''half'' the height of the screen.

* ''Battletoads in Ragnarok's World'', the UsefulNotes/GameBoy port of the NES ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' featuring only eight of the stages.[[note]]Cut were Surf City, Volkmire's Inferno, Intruder Excluder, Gargantua Ducts, and Rat Race[[/note]] The smaller resolution can prove particularly problematic in Karnath's Lair, since a lot of the time the snakes (who have been made ''skinnier'') will be off-screen and harder to anticipate without TrialAndErrorGameplay.

* The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance's ''Classic NES Series'' line of NES ports attempted to combat this by editing the sprites so all the original resolution fits on the more horizontal screen, a literal screen crunch. This results in games having bizarre sprites. For example, in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', Small Mario has no neck and Super Mario's mustache disappears when walking.

* {{Defied|Trope}} with ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. It was yet another Master System-to-UsefulNotes/GameGear conversion, this time for ''[[PolishedPort Final Bubble Bobble]]''. Instead of replicating the Game Boy version's scrolling however, the developers simply created mini versions of the levels, resulting in a unique experience from its console counterpart.
* The Game Gear ports of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog18Bit'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog28Bit'', which were originally made for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, suffered from this badly.

* ''VideoGame/SonicJam'' on the UsefulNotes/GameCom had assets taken straight from the Genesis ''Sonic'' games--big sprites and all. Because of this, you'll often find yourself taking a LeapOfFaith, hoping you survive (or not, given the [[PortingDisaster quality of the remake]]).

* ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'' on the UsefulNotes/NGage would have been a PolishedPort of the GBA version... if it wasn't for the aforementioned screen. It's nearly impossible to see anything to the side of you, including the race track. In a misguided attempt to fix this, the camera is much more jumpy which only makes things worse.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}burst Chronicle Saviours'' features ''Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX'' as part of the package. ''DBACEX'''s arcade cabinet uses a pair of widescreen displays for a total resolution of 2560×720 with a 32:9 aspect ratio. This is fine for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and PC versions of ''DBCS'', where the game will have letterboxes and is still fairly playable, with the PC version even supporting ultrawide and dual-monitor setups. The UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita version? If you don't have a PS TV, enjoy squinting to try and make anything out in the ''960×270'' window!

* ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''. The arcade game is designed for 16:9 monitors, but when the games were ported to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 from 2000 through 2009, the porting team had to make the game compatible with those playing on 4:3 screens, which early on in that period were more common[[note]]and in fact, playing on a 4:3 CRT is ''preferred'' for [=PS2=] games, as the system is not designed for HD screens which introduce latency when upscaling the picture, unless you purchase and use a dedicated upscaling device, and 16:9 [=CRTs=] are exceedingly rare[[/note]]. This led to the introduction of a console-exclusive gameplay UI that only shows one player's playfield, the song animation screen, and the HUD at the bottom, designed to fit better on a 4:3 screen than the original arcade games' [=UIs=]. If you wish to play DoublePlay mode, another unique console-exclusive UI exists that again keeps the note lanes looking correct on a 4:3 screen...but eliminates the video screen entirely. This trope comes to a head [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode if one wishes to play 2-player]], as this forces the 16:9 arcade UI to be compressed into a 4:3 screen; there's no 4:3-friendly 2-player interface.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem version of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' had graphics based on the IBM PC version, which ran in 320x200 resolution with FlipScreenScrolling. Since the NES has only 256 pixels of horizontal resolution, a bit of left-to-right panning had to be added. Other versions of the original game reduce the graphics to allow all of each room to be visible at once, though the SNES version of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'' uses similar horizontal panning.

* ''Megumi Rescue'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, a firefighting-themed BreakingOut game, has to scroll up and down a bit to show the entire building you're rescuing people from. The original UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame used a vertically-tilted monitor, so it didn't have to do this. A loose remake of this game for the Famicom, ''Flying Hero'', avoided this issue by making the buildings shorter.

* Both Game Boy ports based on Franchise/StarWars films suffered from this:

** A frequent criticism of ''VideoGame/SonicAdvance3'' is that the game {{invoke|dTrope}}s this trope [[FakeDifficulty for difficulty]] by hiding spikes and crushers off-screen until it's too late for the player to react.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAdvance'' games aren't affected as much due to their smaller sprites and gameplay better translating to horizontal movement. All games attempted to make up for this by adding extra content and giving the player more opportunities to get extra lives. ''Super Mario Advance 2: VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' added vertical scrolling for the camera button, while ''Super Mario Advance 4: VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' suffers the least as the original NES game already had a smaller viewing resolution from the large HUD which the remake completely replaces with a thin status bar and [[https://themushroomkingdom.net/smb3_snes2sma.shtml a lot of levels have been edited]] to better suit the smaller screen.

** The worst example of ''Sonic 2''[='=]s Screen Crunch is the first boss (pictured above). The bouncing balls are ridiculously hard to dodge in the Game Gear version--not helped by unpredictable heights they bounce at in the port. This trope singlehandedly turned a pushover of a boss into ThatOneBoss.

** A frequent criticism of ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 3]]'' is that the game [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope [[FakeDifficulty for difficulty]] by hiding spikes and crushers off-screen until it's too late for the player to react.

* The ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Mario Advance]]'' games aren't affected as much due to their smaller sprites and gameplay better translating to horizontal movement. All games attempted to make up for this by adding extra content and giving the player more opportunities to get extra lives. ''Super Mario Advance 2: VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' added vertical scrolling for the camera button, while ''Super Mario Advance 4: VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' suffers the least as the original NES game already had a smaller viewing resolution from the large HUD which the remake completely replaces with a thin status bar and [[https://themushroomkingdom.net/smb3_snes2sma.shtml a lot of levels have been edited]] to better suit the smaller screen.

If you're a gamer, you've more than likely run into CameraScrew at some point. Whether it's a controllable camera that constantly gets stuck on things or an Auto-Camera that abruptly changes angle mid jump, bad cameras have been the bane of gamers' existences for decades.

SubTrope to CameraScrew. Also see PortingDisaster and FakeDifficulty. Often goes hand in hand with TrialAndErrorGameplay. Not to be confused with CameraAbuse (when the viewscreen is crunched into smithereens either for humor or adding tension) or ShootTheTelevision (when a character destroys an in-universe screen). This is one of the reasons why developers might make a ReformulatedGame instead. Similar to PanAndScan for movies.

* The Tengen console ports of ''Ms. VideoGame/PacMan'', rather than fitting the entire maze onto the screen (keep in mind that the original arcade game is designed for vertically-oriented monitors), decide to instead have the screen-wide maze scroll up and down. Not only does this mean you can't see the entire maze at once, which may be problematic if you are trying to escape ghosts or find the last few pellets, but in a 2-player simultaneous game, it is possible for one player to scroll the other player off the screen.

* When ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'' was ported to the Sega Saturn, it added some display options on account of the original game being presented on a vertically-oriented monitor. The most optimal way to play is to rotate your TV, but if you don't want to or can't do that, there are three alternative display options, all of which have their own problems. There is pillarboxed 3:4, which keeps the entire playing area visibible but harder to see the game's [[RealIsBrown realistically-colored bullets]], a full-width option that expands the play area to the width of the TV but also omits a lot of vertical space, and finally a wobble variant of the previous option that allows the screen to scroll up and down in accordance with the player's vertical movement, at the expense of potentially causing motion sickness. This is averted with the ''Battle Garegga Rev.2016'' release on [=PS4=] and Xbox One, consoles that mandate an HDTV[[note]]Unless you go out of your way to get a converter that allows the game to be played on a CRT[[/note]] so even in pillarboxed 3:4, you can still see every single detail.

* When ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'' was ported to the Sega Saturn, it added some display options on account of the original game being presented on a vertically-oriented monitor. The most optimal way to play is to rotate your TV, but if you don't want to or can't do that, there are three alternative display options, all of which have their own problems. There is pillarboxed 3:4, which keeps the entire playing area visibible but harder to see the game's [[RealIsBrown realistically-colored bullets]], a full-width option that expands the play area to the width of the TV but also omits a lot of vertical space, and finally a wobble variant of the previous option that allows the screen to scroll up and down in accordance with the player's vertical movement, at the expense of potentially causing motion sickness. This is averted with the ''Battle Garegga Rev.2016'' release on [=PS4=] and Xbox One, consoles that mandate an HDTV so even in pillarboxed 3:4, you can still see every single detail.

* The arcade version of ''[[VideoGame/PacMania]]'', while regarded as a classic, is known for this, as Namco made the perplexing decision to use a TATE (vertical widescreen) display despite the game's [[IsometricProjection isometric mazes]] being more suited to a 4:3 display. This isn't a problem in the first two worlds, but Sandbox Land and [[ThatOneLevel Jungly Steps]] can be a bit unfair as a result. The biggest reason many of the (pre ''Namco Museum'') home ports are seen as {{Polished Port}}s is because of the increased horizontal screen space, which makes the game easier.

* The arcade version of ''[[VideoGame/PacMan Pac-Mania]]'', while regarded as a classic, is known for this, as Namco made the perplexing decision to use a TATE (vertical widescreen) display despite the game's [[IsometricProjection isometric mazes]] being more suited to a 4:3 display. This isn't a problem in the first two worlds, but Sandbox Land and [[ThatOneLevel Jungly Steps]] can be a bit unfair as a result. The biggest reason many of the (pre ''Namco Museum'') home ports are seen as {{Polished Port}}s is because of the increased horizontal screen space, which makes the game easier.

* The first ''Donkey Kong Land'' had this problem due to Creator/{{Rare}}'s inexperience with the Game Boy's smaller screen. This resulted in them importing the sprites from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' without properly resizing them. Future ''Land'' games would try to resize/redraw the sprites to make things more fair, though this problem would return with the GBC port of ''Country''.

* ''VideoGame/PacMan Collection'' is an interesting case. In ''Pac-Man'' & ''Pac-Man Arrangement'', only one half of the maze can be on screen at once, though using the shoulder buttons will allow you to see the other half.

* The Windows 95 port of ''VideoGame/{{Ray|Series}}Force'', also known as ''Layer Section'', on top of being regarded as an inferior port of the arcade game, it had most of its screen real estate crunched down to a 4:3 320x240 display ''horizontally'', from an arcade version that originally used a vertically-oriented 7:10 224x320 display, and unlike the game's Sega Saturn port, the Windows 95 port did not have a TATE display option, meaning players were forced to see a portion of the game being cut off vertically and the HUD and VanityWindow taking up over half of the right port of the game screen.