The external developers that made the IOS version two years ago ported the game to Steam this year but compared to IOS version which is decent in conversion as I saw the gameplay videos, the Steam version is a DIFFERENT DISASTER!
Presentation-wise, there isn't so much support for external controllers and the control customization isn't quite good. Not to mention that the conversion is bound to bring damage to people's ears during the boss destruction sequence from the way it sounds when compared to the arcade version. The sound effects are messed up, the glow and ring effects are messed up and it should be simple enough to base the previous PC release which obviously uses 640X480 resolution with new HUD. Another thing that's messed up is the Stage Clear text which obviously doesn't have the glow effect at all when compared to the previous releases. The last problem is the port's presentation in which the game uses HD resolutions for some reason instead of basing the previous PC release like Raiden III on Steam did. This causes the in-game graphics to be much more blurry than ever and there's no reason to enhance them like making them sharper or some kind since the game originally came out for the G-NET system in the arcades. XIIStag on Steam and Xbox 360 is more or less decent when it comes to conversion but it misses some of the graphical effects as a result. Maybe they are too hard to emulate or some kind.
Speaking of XIIStag, there's also XIIStag Limited on PC which uses 3D objects instead of 2D sprites but the game still looks exactly identical.
The plus side, you do get the decent translation and original voice acting as well as proper in-game presentation that matches the arcade original. The western Playstation 2 release known as Mobile Light Force 2 surely butches the translation, voice acting, scripts, presentation and various parts of game publishing like the title screen has nothing to do with the actual game for instance. So, both the Steam and western Playstation 2 releases are kind of mediocre at best and finding other versions released in Japan will be extremely tough. The IOS version is decent at best from what I saw but it's not the same for the Steam version. The sequel already improves things a little in the west with proper game title and title screen.
