MAME Roms: S/D

Gyruss - a nice fast, loose, tempest/galaga style shooter, with a sense of progression (through the solar system!) which makes it very addictive

Congo Bongo - peculiar isometric platformer, fiddly but graphically very cute

Gimme a Break - a pool sim that works really nicely with the mouse-as-trackball interface

I, Robot - 3D polygons in 1983! Phwoar! Surprisingly playable, too)

Puzzle Bobble 4 - OBVIOUSLY

* though tempest 2000 is preferable to my mind (ditto x 1,000,000 tempest 3000 if you can find a copy and a nuon DVD player to play it on)

other searches: Out Run, Space Harrier, Bank Panic, Alien vs Predator (fantastic Capcom side-scroller)and Taito's Gekirindan.

All my MAME kicks tend to come from Metal Slug or U.N. Squadron-style SHMUP action where I can just keep hitting the "add credit" button until I win. It just feels nice to have that uninterrupted spree of destroying everything onscreen. Other than that I suggest the arcade version of Strider - beating that was NOT just a matter of quarters, but I did it ANYWAY, and I rarely give enough of a shit about a game to defy failure so repeatedly, with such manic obsession. Really amazingly cinematic and classic Capcom execution.

Bang goes my weekend!

Yay! The only arcade game I loved so much that I bought my own machine to play it on! (And now that the monitor's blown on it I can only play it through MAME. *sigh*)

S:

lots of fun old school "non-violent" type games that can be played as a quick fix and only need 4-way movement controls, thus easily playable via keyboard: Anteater, Bagman, Burger Time, Donkey Kong, Elevator Action, Frogger, Hunchback, I'm Sorry, Mappy, Motos, Mr. Do!, Mr. Do's Castle, Penguin-Kun Wars, Pooyan, Rally X, Robby Roto (underrated and legal), Space Invaders (not cutesy/non-violent, but really simple), Tapper, Zoo Keeper

made to be played with a mouse: Centipede, Missile Command, Quantum

shooters: Berserk, Bosconian, Choplifter, Dangar- UFO Robo, Darius, Gradius, Slap Fight, Time Pilot (especially if you liked Gyruss), Vanguard, Xevious

sidescrollers/beat-em-ups: Ghosts n' Goblins, Kung Fu Master, Moon Patrol, My Hero, Shinobi, Vs. Castlevania, Vs. Super Mario Brothers

if you've got a dual joystick set-up: Robotron 2084, Space Dungeon

the only fighter you'll ever need to play: Yie Ar Kung Fu (fuck yeah!)

D:

The rest of the sidescrollers and beat-em-ups, especially the Neo-Geo ones (yeah, including Double Dragon, Metal Slug, The Simpsons, Strider, TMNT, and X-Men, IMO)

The rest of the fighters, unless you're a big fighter fan (OK, maybe not destroy Street Fighter 2)

All gazillion of the mahjongg games, unless you really like mahjongg and/or cartoon nudity

Good games that are unfortunately pointless to play at home without the right specialized controls or display: Assault, Asteroids, Defender, Discs of Tron, Ikari Warriors, Mad Planets, Reactor, Sinistar, Star Wars, Tempest (plus all the driving games, lightgun games (way too easy using the mouse), etc.)

Galaga, Joust, Pac-Man, Rampart (just not as much fun at home)

Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden, Punch-Out!! (fucking SUCK compared to the NES versions)

Gravitar, Major Havoc, Tron, Xybots, Zaxxon (overrated old school games)

Games that let you continue at the spot where you died (here I disagree with TOMBOT, since I just get hella bored when there's no challenge to beating them): Gauntlet, Rampage, and pretty much ever fucking thing released from 1990 on, especially the shooters (how boring when you don't even have to dodge)

Dude you totally have to dodge, otherwise you lose all your power-ups. It's just that if you want to keep seeing different scenery you can keep pumping the quarters. MAME games aren't usually good enough to make me want to play the same 3-4 levels over and over again or start from the same freeze state repeatedly just so I can fight a different colored version of the same alien cyborg helicopter 5 minutes later by dint of sheer luck.

gyruss has always been one of my faves.

Yeah, I guess if you don't really dig twitch games, old school shooters aren't going to appeal to you (or most old school arcade games, period, since repetition in the face of adversity was what they were all about). I just can't be bothered to care about power-ups when I'm immortal anyway, so I always end up brute forcing my way through to the end when I play those new-fangled things on unlimited credits. I prefer games that don't use a lot of power-ups anyway (unless they're really integral to the gameplay, like in Gradius) as I like simple game mechanics best (which is why I don't dig fighters, with their super-complicated controls and over-abundant character choices).

both horizontal (UN squadron style) and vertical (ikaruga style)

Outzone!!

Sinistar = only game to ever give me blisters.

gyruss speed throttled down right to the end. how disappointing

What, you were expecting an ending out of a game from 1983? Yeah, OK, so maybe it was a little bit misleading in that regard...

OK, I was lying when I said all platformers are crap. Since ILG has led me back down the path of sin, I've been looking through my MAME ROMz0rs again, especially the cutesy old Japanese games that I like so much. So, platformer of the day: Teddy Boy Blues. Not an all-time classic maybe, but fun. Slightly stiff and unfair freedom-of-control-wise, but not as bad in said regard as similar platformer Momoko 120% (cute game, but unfinishable because of (original arcade ROM) buggyness). Plus it has a tie-in to some famous Japanese pop singer who I've never heard of! (And who you don't actually get to hear in the game, since it was made too early for digitized singing.)

ha HA! our first admitted victory!

um, maybe someone should set up a Mame ROM Blog? the old games are only a few k each.

> because Sinistar coming on the screen would make me lose my shit so bad

Run Coward! 8)

ha HA! our first admitted victory!

Yeah, well, I still threw out the SNES ROMs. (And so far, so good, except for a slight jonesing for a game of Castlevania. So lately I've been getting my ass kicked by Haunted Castle, its retarded younger brother, instead.)

So what actually does happen at the "end" of gyruss? Go on, spoil it for me! :)

I've also been enjoying Omega Race, again with the mouse, which is some kind of Asteroids wannabe.

Arkanoid wins though.

Been having a dabble back into MAME lately, due to my reading old copies of C+VG magazines from World Of Spectrum.

One game name which escapes me is a zombie killing top-down game, with very 'ubisoft' looking graphics (ie Amiga like). It was like a complex Gauntlet/Into The Eagles Nest game, where you flicked switches and made your way through the rooms. Anyone know it? I remember a lot of blood and a part where it went dark and you used a torch to look around.

Other cool games i've played:
Excitabike
Time Pilot
Rastan
Galaga 84

er and loads more i can't remember the names of.

One game name which escapes me is a zombie killing top-down game

this?

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Zombies_Ate_My_Neighbors_GEN_ScreenShot1.jpg

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Zombies_Ate_My_Neighbors_GEN_ScreenShot2.jpg

Can't see the screenshots here at work, but is that called 'Zombies_Ate_My_Neighbors' ? Fairly sure that's not it.

i remember you had a crossbow as a weapon, i think. it had some really weird puzzles to solve.

now i see those screens, deffo not the game I played but that looks fab.

it fits the description though :(

surely there are more zombie-killing top down games than ZAMN. The only game I can think of is Zombie Revenge..

http://www.emunova.net/img/tests/680.jpg

I liked Zombie Revenge, but DAMN it was hard. Granted, it was no Die Hard/Dynamite Cop, but still good stuff.

Isn't there a raytrace Empire Strikes Back rom floating around out there? Were they ever able to get it working?

Finally took the time to set up some MAME on my computer. Mostly just exploring lots of shmups... DonDonPachi, Dragon Blaze, ESP Ra.De., Guwange, and Mars Matrix have gotten the most play so far. More suggestions are welcome. It's overwhelming how much is available (though frustrating when I can't get some games I would want to check out to work - like Radiant Silvergun. Fucking Vista).

I think I'll try set this up today; no pad tho.

is there anyway to use the xbox 360 pad without the wireless receiver for windows?

Not that I know of - other than buying a wired 360 pad. Actually I use a wired pad on my 360 'cause I hate having to recharge batteries all the time. On my computer, I just use a cheap-ish logitech pad (works fine).

why don't you use the wired 360 pad on your computer?

gutted they can't get the 3d games to work properly, things like Virtua Racing and the newer Star Wars 3d games. Virtua fighter seems ok though.

and powerdrift doesn't work :(

oh and recommend "Bruteforce"

It's not like I'm a huge fan of the 360 pad - my cheap logitech pad is just as good, plus I don't want to bother having to plug and unplug a joystick into different machines. Yes, I'm that lazy.

Couldn't find a good ROM for Brute Force :(

Do you like a game that involves jumping on breakable TRAMPOLINES and slamming shut wooden DOORS to stop cats from stealing electronics, safes, and artworks? If so, you will like MAPPY.

http://ui12.gamespot.com/971/mappy1b_2.png

MARBLE MADNESS is a win and it has the best music of all time.

http://www.infinite-loop.at/Power64/Images/Screenshots_OSX/MarbleMadness.png

OH GOD.

Don't get me started.

It sucks, though, being obsessed with Marble Madness, and never having played it with the trackball, as it was originally intended.

Raiden raiden raiden, keep those raidens, er, raiden-ing...

Are there any Windows MAME-usable paddle controllers that don't require creating some homebrew arcade controller? So far on the fail list: Atari paddles + Stelladaptor and Griffin Powermate.

so i got the hori arcade fighting stick3 (ps3 version) and after some faffing about got the driver working on my pc. cor it's great for mame games!

good mame platform games?
like new zealand story

:D

was it you who advised me ? thanks muchly, couldn't find the other thread we talked about it on.

Rainbow Islands!!! It was my vote in last year's best game ever poll, and is unimpeachable IMO.

Also
Wonderboy in Monsterland.
Donkey Kong (old, but holds up well & so much better than the nes version)

yeah Wonderboy in monsterland is exactly what i'm looking for, but i could never get to grips with the end of level bosses.

after more not-single-screen stuff really.

although i love Solomons Key

it's not what you're looking for, but Shinobi would be ace with that joystick, likewise the 194x series of fighterplane shooters.
i'll dig around my favourites later on.
also, have you tried any SNES games with it, cos you're spoiled for choice of quality platformers there.

indeed i have. and i spent a whopping amount of time on Yoshi's Island which so far seems to be the greatest platform game i've ever played.

but i'd welcome more snes recommendations as i only knew yoshi from my gameboy advance days, anything else but mario.

I really enjoyed this but it has a bad rep
http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/gba/warioland4.jpg

Liquid Kids ... not great but hybrid of Newzealand Story and Bubble Bobble.

(that was a MAME recommendation not SNES btw)

yes got liquid kids on the list, cheers

Finally took the time to set up some MAME on my computer. Mostly just exploring lots of shmups... DonDonPachi, Dragon Blaze, ESP Ra.De., Guwange, and Mars Matrix have gotten the most play so far. More suggestions are welcome. It's overwhelming how much is available (though frustrating when I can't get some games I would want to check out to work - like Radiant Silvergun. Fucking Vista).

― Jeff LeVine, Thursday, 11 September 2008 05:51 (5 months ago) Permalink

awww yesss, those were most of what i was going to suggest. some other good shmups -

dangun feveron (disco themed! awesome music)
gigawing 1 & 2
the dodonpachi sequels (dai jou or whatev & the new one)

radiant silvergun is weird, i could never get the hang of it

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/pulirula/pulirula-1.png
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/pulirula/pulirula.htm

Pu-Li-Ru-La is AMAZING.

I've gotten into a big emulating kick this summer but the newly updated MAME is having trouble playing my old roms. Plenty of games that used to play pretty much 100% no problem now won't open in MAME because they are missing files, which is pretty annoying as I've had to go back and download old versions of MAME and try them until i find the right one. Is anyone else having this problem? Is there a way to fix this?

Hmm didn't know there was a new version, still with my age old one happily.

I'll give it a whirl in the next couple of days and let you know

Plenty of games that used to play pretty much 100% no problem now won't open in MAME because they are missing files, which is pretty annoying as I've had to go back and download old versions of MAME and try them until i find the right one. Is anyone else having this problem? Is there a way to fix this?

My understanding is that the solution is to download the ROMSET to match the new version of MAME you're using. Kind of a pain...

Yeah that's where I was going wrong with the ouya version, finally got it up and running this week though.

yeah, every couple versions of MAME they change all the filenames just to fuck with people, seemingly

Fans of the Outrun game, you must own this. A rather super duper looking version running on lots of different platforms

Here's a vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHyWzYou_8E

Link to the engine itself in the youtube description.

All you need is the Outrun rom files for Mame, (you might need to rename a few of them though - see the rom.txt document in the above download)