a coin-eater's game, shrunk to fit a home console, missing exactly the parts that made it great.
means a home version of a game originally built for arcade cabinets, translated to different hardware and often compromised in the process.
from born from the 1980s arcade boom, when companies like atari and namco licensed their coin-op hits to console makers whose machines couldn't match arcade circuit boards, forcing brutal cuts to graphics, sound, and levels.
pac man atari 2600 — 1982, flickering ghosts, blamed for the video game crash
donkey kong colecovision — 1982, missing a level, still sold the console
street fighter ii snes — 1992, near-perfect port that proved conversions could shine
mortal kombat genesis — 1993, kept the blood via cheat code, sega beat nintendo