Cynicaster

81 By all rights this game should be one of my favorite nostalgic trips because it was huge right around the time I was frequenting arcades--and I did play it a ton back then--but when I play it now the gameplay just seems so shallow and mindless compared to some of the earlier classics that actually have some technique and strategy to them if you want to play for score. In this game you get 1 point per kill regardless of whether it's a regular grunt soldier or a boss. If they were so uninterested in having your score mean anything, why have a score at all?

Yeah, the problem with character selection is because the specified ROM version is meant for a dedicated 4-player cabinet. The game is looking at 4 different coin-in switches, one each dedicated to the 4 playable characters. Therefore you will always be forced to be Leo if you coin up using the P1 coin button, for example. Since this game was available as a conversion kit back then, and because not all donor cabinets would have 4 players, they also released a ROM that is compatible with 2-player cabinets. It allows you to use any coin button to credit up, and then select which turtle you want to use. I think TMNT2PO is the 2-player ROM. Using the 2-player ROM would probably be preferable for most of us due to the convenience factor, but there is a workaround for the 4-player ROM. You just need to re-map the controls so that they become associated with the turtle you want to use. For example, if you are using an XBOX360 controller and want to be Donatello, re-map the controls so that Player 3 is your controller, and coin up by pressing ‘3’ rather than ‘1’. Or, if you like to map the coin button to something on your controller, map Player 3 credit to that button. Of course, you’ll have to repeat this procedure every time you want to play as a different character.

Fun game, but I find that if I goof up early then there is no point in playing the rest of the game because I'll never top my score. Regardless, I could never really understand the meteoric popularity of the original Galaga, and I enjoy this game much more. 124,810

428,730 Aside from shoot-em-ups, there aren't many types of games from the "insert coin to continue" era of arcade gaming that I like very much. Reason being, the games are usually designed around "getting to the end" rather than interesting scoring systems. In the process, they fleece the player of as much money as possible -- often going through phases (boss battles, etc.) where credits last about 5 seconds. So, run and gun games like Metal Slug aren't normally my bag, but I have to admit, this game is pretty awesome. The detail in the graphics and animations is outstanding and you can tell they really took a lot of care in designing this game.

122,100 (2nd score on list... the top one is old) Not a fan of this game at all... I tried to like it, but I'm kind of glad a new game is coming.

Isn't the VS version the one that is basically the NES version of the game in an arcade cabinet? Hope not, because the arcade version would be way more fun to play.

One more before the deadline, small improvement. I find it's really easy to make stupid F-ups in this game... 43,280

39,270

I think you need to exit out of the game and re-start it for changed settings to take effect. For example, if you start by loading Frogger with default dips, then change lives to 5, you're still only going to get 3 lives until you exit out of the game and restart it. I really enjoy Frogger, but oddly I have not played very much of it at all since building my MAME cabinet 6 years ago. I kind of forgot how fun this game can be. Frogger is almost like 2 games in 1, because navigating the bottom half of the screen requires a whole different set of techniques than navigating the top half. For the first 2-3 boards, IMO you don't even really need any kind of strategy--the only thing you need is patience and restraint. Take your time, make reasoned and low-risk jumps, and you should be fine. Most of your hopping on these boards will be forward; not much side-to-side movement is needed. When the traffic on the road starts getting more hectic, two things start to become really important: the first is learning how to hop side-to-side between two cars, "in sync" with the speed of the cars of that row so that you don't accidentally hit the one in front of you or get squashed by the one behind you. Hopping along within a row of traffic in this way allows you more flexibility in choosing the exact moment you want to make the leap to the next row up, rather than always waiting for an obvious vertical track from bottom to top to present itself. The second important thing on hectic roads is learning how to look ahead--not just to the next row above you, but beyond. The reason this matters is because, if you look closely, you'll notice lots of times that rows of cars have gaps in them. These gaps present great opportunities to hop through at lower risk. If you take mental note of where those larger gaps are, you can try to time your advance so that the gaps pass in front of you just as you need them. I could never get past about 16,000 points until I figured this out. I agree with MO's suggestion to fill the left-most slot early on, but I don't think you need to necessarily do it first, just do it at the earliest opportunity. As soon as you get past the road, check to see if you think you have enough time to plot a path to that slot--if not, take an easier slot and try again next time for the left side. You don't want to lose a life from running down the clock if it can be avoided. Most of the time, death by sinking turtle is completely preventable. A quick scan of the turtle rows in the water should be enough for you to identify where the sinkers are. Try to make a conscious effort to always identify the sinkers before hopping into a turtle row. Frogger was designed to work with a simple 4-way joystick, which would make one think it would be easy to emulate at home, but I find that most controllers don't work very well with this game. The reason is, you move your frog with a string of discrete taps rather than the usual method of just holding the stick in the direction you want to move. The real arcade machine had a red ball-top stick with a short throw that was pretty springy, which made it very suitable for rapid tapping in different directions with accuracy. Lots of generic arcade joysticks and hand-held controllers are not very good at mimicking this kind of performance. That's why Frogger might be the only game in the MAME library that I think plays well with a keyboard; the tap-tap-tap inputs translate quite logically to key presses. The thing to keep in mind when using a keyboard is that the game will only register inputs as quickly as the frog can jump, so you have to get into a rhythm and avoid the tendency to rapidly mash the buttons to jump quicker. If you do that, you'll get lots of unregistered button presses and you'll be likely to either over- or under-jump to your death.

30,740

125,025 (4th score on table)

Yes, there are MAME settings specifically for vector graphics that allow you to make the lines thicker, etc.

107,375 In the photo, this is score #7 in the table. All the higher scores were done with different settings. After playing a lot of Robotron, this game is tough to get used to again. The red barriers drive me nuts, and it is very frustrating getting killed on the bonus stage because you can't fire fast enough. Cool game, though.

Cool... never played this with free lives turned off. I'll have to see what I can do under these new constraints!

It's true... unfortunately for those who do not have a suitable setup, I think Robotron kind of requires something resembling real-deal controls to play at home. Sure, you can "screw around" a bit in the game with an Xbox 360 controller or a keyboard, but I just don’t see anybody being able to score anywhere near their actual potential without dual arcade-style 8-way sticks. The Xbox controller at least provides the dual independent sticks, but since they're analog, they're really sloppy and imprecise for Robotron, which routinely requires accurate maneuvering through very narrow passages to survive. Maybe some modern gamer types have mastered the use of dual analog thumbsticks for precise controls to the point where Robotron could be played at a high level, but for me it would be like trying to play guitar wearing mittens, and I'd probably smash the controller in frustration before I got anywhere with it. As for Black Widow, that game has the same control scheme as Robotron, but IMO, the similarity between the two games pretty much ends there. Black Widow is a tough game as well, but generally speaking it's not nearly as twitchy as Robotron because the playfield is typically not as crowded with hazards. I've never tested this assumption, but perhaps this fact would make BW slightly more forgiving of the Xbox controller.

The Robotron scoreboard has been dormant for way too long! Looks like Black Widow is poised to win the April '17 GOTM election, so thought I'd practice my twin stick skills on the granddaddy of them all. 633,400 New personal best at difficulty 5. Actually, I think that is my best regardless of difficulty setting. Though it's still a long way away, this run made 1mil feel possible. But feelings are one thing and reality is quite another. For most mere mortals, Robotron is very fickle; the game likes to build you up and then turn around and rip you down. You get a 500k+ game, then play again and die 3 times before the first brain wave.

I played this one a lot as a kid. The main trick to this game is to keep in mind that you can only perform 1-2 moves on your enemy (depending on which ones) before you need to let him land some kind of hit on you. If you don't, when you go for another move, then you can guarantee that your opponent will pull a reversal and slam you with something. Losing control in this way even once can spell doom sometimes, especially once you get several matches in. Other times, you can finagle control back with a little bit of skill and little bit of luck. . Note, a relatively harmless punch or kick or even running into your enemy counts as them "landing a hit," which resets the counter and lets you do more moves to him without risk of a reversal.

1,116,700 Hope this score sticks, because I could have gone higher... I was getting buggy-eyed so I just got myself counted out on purpose.

589,550

Jumping off the corner onto your opponent is probably one of the most damaging moves you can do. You have to be careful though, because if the opponent rolls out of the way, you crash to the mat and lie there stunned, giving the guy a chance to turn the tables on you. The super-kick you talked about is only possible when you whip your opponent to the ropes. Whip opponent, wait for him to rebound off the ropes, and when he gets in close hit the "kick" button and you will do the fancy kick. This move is really effective when you're really close to the ropes--you basically throw the guy then hit the kick button right away, and you land your hit before the opponent even completes his rebound off the ropes. Doing it this way means the opponent will not have a chance to do any kind of reversal, which he can (and will) do if he has time to do so. Other moves you can do when your opponent comes rushing back: Kick button + joystick toward opponent = clothesline Punch button = back drop Punch button + toward opponent = elbow smash

Nice score, Pat! Once you figure out how Mat Mania (aka "Exciting Hour") works, high scores are not so much a matter of skill but of focus and discipline. In other words, you have to go methodically through your opponents without taking unnecessary risks. Especially in a long game, there is always a temptation to do different things to bring some variety to the gameplay, but if you do something too careless your opponent might gain control of the match and never give it back. As mentioned, this is particularly a problem with Coco Savage, but really, it can happen with any of the opponents. I haven't played this one in a few years, but when I get home in a few days I'll see if I can blow the rust off and give Pat a run for his money.

For me, it’s not so much that I wish the game were higher speed, just consistent speed. What makes it annoying is that the game slows down and speeds back up in fits and starts, which can really throw your timing off. Like, you’ll be walking all sloooooooowww then suddenly the game kicks back to full speed, and you walk off a cliff and die because it catches you by surprise. Or, your character does a bunch of things you don’t want him to because the slow down affects how button presses are processed—you’re jumping and head-butting and kicking when you don’t mean to, etc. I’m not aware of any hacks to fix the slow down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that existed. If you want to get a feel for how the game plays without slow down, try the Genesis version; it looks almost identical to the arcade but runs more smoothly. If you want to play a really great version, check out the Game Boy Advance version. It’s actually more of a re-imagining than a port, but it’s really good.

R-Type Syndrome [AR-type-SIN-drohm] Noun 1. a common video game construct characterized by the gradual build-up of ass-kicking weaponry and power-ups, accompanied by a short-lived euphoric sense of omnipotence on the part of the player, followed immediately by a phase of existential dread, when a stray enemy bullet ends the party and the player is left with a pea-shooter of a weapon amidst an insurmountable onslaught, dying every few seconds until all reserve lives have been exhausted and the game ends. Exemplified in Irem's R-Type, and popular in retro shoot-em-games. 2. an instance of a video game player being forced to retread the same stretch of a level over and over again when they lose a life, rather than allowing the player to proceed from the spot where their previous life was lost, often resulting in a rapid succession of deaths Example sentence: "Ah man, I made it all the way to the last level without losing a life and was about to steal the world record, but then the game's R-Type Syndrome kicked in and I lost all 5 of my lives over the course of the next 30 seconds!" Synonyms: oppression algorithm, mockery of gaming justice, Ghosts N Goblins Syndrome Antonyms: coddling, fairness, nurturing of sanity ^^ Ok, I made all that up. But it really belongs in the dictionary. 195,600

Double Dragon is a historic game for sure. I love the soundtrack and graphics, and the game mechanics were hugely influential in the 5 or so years that followed. At the same time, Double Dragon might be the strongest example of a game "not aging well" that I have ever seen. The slow-down is atrocious, the hit detection is iffy, and you pretty much have to exploit a cheap tactic (elbow smash) to survive. Regarding the slow-down problem, we mustn't forget that the primary purpose of MAME is accurate preservation of old technology; the developers do not set out to tinker with old games to make them more fun to play in the present day at home on a computer. That is usually a good thing, but the flip side is that it means that if the original game had bad slow-down or lag, then those problems will be present in MAME as well, by design. I played a fair bit of DD in arcades back then, and I remember the slow-down, but I just can't believe that we weren't more bothered by it at the time. I think the game was so revolutionary with its graphics and action--and so many light years ahead of what we could get on our home consoles--that we were willing to overlook the major flaws. 84,110

127,700 Never played this one before. Not a huge fan, to be honest. I can see how this would have a nostalgic appeal if I had played it in the 80s, but to me, the "one on one fighter" type game is defined by Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken. It's kind of hard to start with those games and then go back to this one and try to appreciate it.