The one thing DC has "going for it", if you like that sort of thing, is that yes - you can remove the slow-down. This isn't a bullet-hell game and to me, and many others, removing the slow-down changes what this game is, this is both puzzle and shooting and I prefer to play it the way it played in the arcade.
The NEO-CD was very close to the arcade, but there are as always, dreadfully long load times between character select and the vs. gameplay.
The SAT version had an additional playable character as well as an art gallery on the bonus disc. It had alternate intros and an extended ending screen on completion of arcade mode. SAT has an exclusive soundtrack in addition to Arcade sdtrk. DC has no exclusive sdtrk, rather emulation of the neo cd sdtrk and 2 versions of the arcade sdtrk.
The voice acting between matches in arcade mode is present in SAT - it has been removed entirely from DC, it's just background noise.
Quote from one of the more regarded shmuppers on shmups forum:
kiken wrote:The DC version is something of a bare-bones port, featuring 3 modes of emulation and 3 different versions of the OST. Strangely, the DC version has actually become fairly rare and expensive.
The one flaw of SAT is that it is of course CD format and there are occasional load times, thus slower than the AES/MVS versions, but in keeping true to the original and in adding things like a console port should, it far surpasses the DC version - this even includes scrolling backdrops - present in SAT, missing in DC.
PS2 port is a hot mess.
AES/MVS > SAT > DC > Neo CD > PS2
