I picked up both W1 and SM1 for the SNES for 5 euro each on a collectors exhibit last week, dug up a SNES with controllers and three games for 25 euro's from a second-hand store and played the "original" SNES release...
The SNES WC1, which appears blocky.. like they just cropped the graphics and reduced the colors... The gameplay is okay.. but the talkie-scenes are very, very ugly..(in my opinion)
SM1 however was great, they polished/cleaned up the graphics to match the capabilities of the system... and did some extra stuff... the take off-scene was altered, both good and bad.. you see a 3d in-engine take-off and landing... wich was great(even though the numbers are missing from the flight deck), but also you see the ship you fly rise on an elevator ramp before launch and after landing, wich was very poorly animated.. they used about five colours(no gradient noticable), plus you appear to have solid engine exhausts flames in those scenes!
the updated flyby is neat though
The anime in the SM1 intro was great, two kilrathi(appearantly one is the father of thrakhath?) discussing the use of the graviton/sivar-weapon, and explaining what it does... And they don't execute the admiral in the end.
And ow yeah, the scimitar's cockpit has a lot less view in this version, the cockpit's animation is a lot better however....
Alterations include a green Salthi, with the fire arcs and specs of the Jalthi, and named Jalthi also... this is an extra bugger because you need to make sure you are not firing at your wingman, and visually from a distance you can't tell the difference...
The game does include digital sound effects for weapons, and mass drivers are green? Also the flight schematics are a bit different, in this version you can fire all your missiles without delay...
It took me about one-and-half hour to play through SM1, it's 15 missions, and you couldn't transfer your character on the SNES, saving can not be done, but with your callsign it generates 10-character codes to keep your stats inline when you restart. For the bargain i got now( 10 euro for the two games together), it's a great nostalgia trip, but these games costed 140hfl(70 euro's) each back in the day here in holland, and I would be disappointed to have finished it so soon back then when i was a kid and spended all my money(It would be a month's pay as a paperboy)...
I'll try and find the Mac version for super wing commander next...