I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Seems like a good amount of these tricks were figured out by Western players judging by Jaimers' replay, but there's an impossibly obscure way to get bonus medals from destroying the turrets before the 4th boss in a specific order based on the hundreds column value of your current score. Not sure how anyone could remember how to do this on the fly without sticking a post it note on the side of their monitor.
Maybe it was a troll where it was meant to randomly trigger if a player gets lucky without them understanding why or how? Cheeky bastards.
Maybe it was a troll where it was meant to randomly trigger if a player gets lucky without them understanding why or how? Cheeky bastards.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
For me at least, I didn't even try to memorize the turret medal patterns; Heh, I had a piece of paper on my desk with scrawls/notes trying to figure out that bonus, and when I finally did it just so happened to serve as a decent reminder. I'm surprised I managed to even figure out that bonus through straight trial and error...
viewtopic.php?p=1030986#p1030986
Unfortunately I didn't see anything new, final boss strats are good though. Also neat for me to see that our notes kinda match up
Ran it through machine translation hoping for a missing 100k bonus compared to what I noted inRastan78 wrote:Some expert Cybattler strategies from player TYR-Yeti:
Part 1:
https://www.inu-inu-yeti.com/entry/2017/04/09/230112
Part 2:
https://www.inu-inu-yeti.com/entry/2018/12/03/231856
Part 3:
https://www.inu-inu-yeti.com/entry/2018/12/18/223144
It's in Japanese so it will be up to good old Google translate unless someone cares to do a better translation.
viewtopic.php?p=1030986#p1030986
Unfortunately I didn't see anything new, final boss strats are good though. Also neat for me to see that our notes kinda match up
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I love that Hamster's official genre for Guevara is "Survival Shooting." They're not kidding.
Similar to the first boss (Heli) being the toughest, the first couple stages are also lengthier and more elaborate than the remainder. The rest are harder, but also shorter and progressively less roving. In fact, the penultimate two revert to Ikari/Dogo's vertical-only progress. They still pan a bit to the left and right, but it's a straight march up Havana's main street to Batista's hellaciously well-guarded presidential manse.
I'm sorry, GT-kun and ChuChu-sama, but Mr. Heli took all the playtesting hours (■`ω´■)
While I've always loved the NES/FC version's hybrid of hardcore shooting and adventure - stages scroll all over the place, from start to finish - I have to say, I'm glad the AC ver's endgame returns to Ikari form. The 3:4 aspect isn't suited to horizontal advance - the jungle, village and railway stages can put you a little too near un-memorised enemies for comfort (though the firing delay they share with Ikari's zako offsets this). The city and palace stages are rigorously difficult, and the latter also has a nasty stealth penalty on grenade spam (you need to save the lion's share for the boss, otherwise you'll have to suicide for more) - but I actually find them comfier affairs, with the totally rigid vertical scroll.
SNK's later Search And Rescue scrolls all over the damn place, but its player character is a lot more powerful and agile, so it never really becomes an issue until the very, very last room, where you'll wanna know in advance what hulking beasts are lurking on the sidelines.
While Guevara shares Ikari's tank dynamic - a kind of bizarro Metal Slug 1, where keeping your ride is fiendishly tricky, yet even more cataclysmically empowering - the other two parts of the Obada triptych, shooting and grenades, work entirely differently.
God help you if that bridge gets taken out. (`ω´メ)
God help them if it doesn't. (■`ω´■)
While the base MG is quick, and surprisingly potent versus certain vehicles, its short reach, narrow range and lack of piercing will doom you. Bazooka is an invaluable anti-tank and blockade-clearing tool, and it can hammer bosses to scrap in short order. Flamethrower's universal piercing ability is an utter godsend in the tightly-packed surroundings, though this also prevents it from pointblanking hard targets - creating a nice tactical dilemma, between what are otherwise fairly interchangeable shot upgrades.
I would've liked a third, spreadshot type to complete the spectrum - every weapon here, from the base MG/grenades, to bazooka/flamethrower, to the tank's shells, is very narrowly-focused. A nice brutal shotgun would've gone great with the mildly superdeformed yet no less gruesome aesthetic.
Grenades are goddamn near useless, sadly, being primarily useful for tank ammo. No Ikari/Dogo REDSPLOSIONS here, never mind the former's glorious chain-demolitions, where an exploding tank takes a building, a helicopter and several grunts with it. Though as said, enemies no longer pack Reds, either. The most surgical, merciless action of the trio by far. Enemies likewise revert from Dogo's biblical hordes, splattered en masse by sword-wielding players battling sheer numbers, to Ikari's more lethal economy. Even the most minor zako is a deadly threat to be individually outplayed. Ammo and fuel is surprisingly plentiful, especially if you master POW rescues, but so is death - losing your heavy weapons at the wrong place will invite an even swifter Gradius Syndrome dogpile than Ikari or Dogo.
Not a fan of the last stage lacking not just tanks (expected, after Ikari's endgame) but heavy weapons, too. Punishing. >_< Thankfully it's short, more of glorified boss alley.
RE the last boss: the classic Ikari airstrike only stops ticking down at the equally traditional freeze-frame. It's eminently possible for a slowpoke to kill the boss, trigger the ending demo, then eat a rocket mid-flex. The HUD vanishes with the boss - as far as I'm concerned, that's the 1LC bagged, even with a post-game death, though it'd look like sheeeit
---
Guevara is probably the least approachable of Obada's rotary army STGs, though all are pretty ornery beasts. I'd direct curious newbies to either TANK (much friendlier than the subsequent three, with its speedy player vehicle) or Ikari (75% classic tactical topdown, though the final quarter hasn't aged well, on account of mean-spirited, short-sighted rote). If Ikari turns you off, you can safely ignore Guevara. Dogosoken's sword action is possibly the most idiosyncratic thing here - though its difficulty curve is actually pretty generous, if you can master the deflect. Unlike Ikari/Guevara's bulletproof tanks, your blade never runs out of gas, and it bats away grenades, too! "BECOME A MASTER WITH YOUR SWORD," as the Japanese flyer sagely advises.
The most recommendable SNK rotary STG, which I don't think Obada worked on, is almost certainly SEARCH AND RESCUE - which I sincerely hope gets an ACA release, shorn of SNK40th's god-awful jank, ala TANK/Ikari/Dogo/Guevara. It's the kind of latter-day genre diehard that's smoothed-out, but not defanged. Agile, powerful player character VS hellish odds. Tremendous Aliens X Warhammer aesthetic, too, with a relentless air of terror. I'm really glad Guevara's already disturbing "Help... me..." POW sample never found its way into this Gigerrific fucker. Brrr.
Incidentally, anyone who likes this harshly tactical style of topdown run/gun should try out Sega's Gain Ground, the arcade version of which has a customarily beautiful M2 port on Switch. I wonder if that game's devs were influenced by Obada at all, the resemblance is striking.
Similar to the first boss (Heli) being the toughest, the first couple stages are also lengthier and more elaborate than the remainder. The rest are harder, but also shorter and progressively less roving. In fact, the penultimate two revert to Ikari/Dogo's vertical-only progress. They still pan a bit to the left and right, but it's a straight march up Havana's main street to Batista's hellaciously well-guarded presidential manse.
I'm sorry, GT-kun and ChuChu-sama, but Mr. Heli took all the playtesting hours (■`ω´■)
Spoiler
While I've always loved the NES/FC version's hybrid of hardcore shooting and adventure - stages scroll all over the place, from start to finish - I have to say, I'm glad the AC ver's endgame returns to Ikari form. The 3:4 aspect isn't suited to horizontal advance - the jungle, village and railway stages can put you a little too near un-memorised enemies for comfort (though the firing delay they share with Ikari's zako offsets this). The city and palace stages are rigorously difficult, and the latter also has a nasty stealth penalty on grenade spam (you need to save the lion's share for the boss, otherwise you'll have to suicide for more) - but I actually find them comfier affairs, with the totally rigid vertical scroll.
SNK's later Search And Rescue scrolls all over the damn place, but its player character is a lot more powerful and agile, so it never really becomes an issue until the very, very last room, where you'll wanna know in advance what hulking beasts are lurking on the sidelines.
While Guevara shares Ikari's tank dynamic - a kind of bizarro Metal Slug 1, where keeping your ride is fiendishly tricky, yet even more cataclysmically empowering - the other two parts of the Obada triptych, shooting and grenades, work entirely differently.
God help you if that bridge gets taken out. (`ω´メ)
God help them if it doesn't. (■`ω´■)
Spoiler
While the base MG is quick, and surprisingly potent versus certain vehicles, its short reach, narrow range and lack of piercing will doom you. Bazooka is an invaluable anti-tank and blockade-clearing tool, and it can hammer bosses to scrap in short order. Flamethrower's universal piercing ability is an utter godsend in the tightly-packed surroundings, though this also prevents it from pointblanking hard targets - creating a nice tactical dilemma, between what are otherwise fairly interchangeable shot upgrades.
I would've liked a third, spreadshot type to complete the spectrum - every weapon here, from the base MG/grenades, to bazooka/flamethrower, to the tank's shells, is very narrowly-focused. A nice brutal shotgun would've gone great with the mildly superdeformed yet no less gruesome aesthetic.
Grenades are goddamn near useless, sadly, being primarily useful for tank ammo. No Ikari/Dogo REDSPLOSIONS here, never mind the former's glorious chain-demolitions, where an exploding tank takes a building, a helicopter and several grunts with it. Though as said, enemies no longer pack Reds, either. The most surgical, merciless action of the trio by far. Enemies likewise revert from Dogo's biblical hordes, splattered en masse by sword-wielding players battling sheer numbers, to Ikari's more lethal economy. Even the most minor zako is a deadly threat to be individually outplayed. Ammo and fuel is surprisingly plentiful, especially if you master POW rescues, but so is death - losing your heavy weapons at the wrong place will invite an even swifter Gradius Syndrome dogpile than Ikari or Dogo.
Not a fan of the last stage lacking not just tanks (expected, after Ikari's endgame) but heavy weapons, too. Punishing. >_< Thankfully it's short, more of glorified boss alley.
RE the last boss: the classic Ikari airstrike only stops ticking down at the equally traditional freeze-frame. It's eminently possible for a slowpoke to kill the boss, trigger the ending demo, then eat a rocket mid-flex. The HUD vanishes with the boss - as far as I'm concerned, that's the 1LC bagged, even with a post-game death, though it'd look like sheeeit
---
Guevara is probably the least approachable of Obada's rotary army STGs, though all are pretty ornery beasts. I'd direct curious newbies to either TANK (much friendlier than the subsequent three, with its speedy player vehicle) or Ikari (75% classic tactical topdown, though the final quarter hasn't aged well, on account of mean-spirited, short-sighted rote). If Ikari turns you off, you can safely ignore Guevara. Dogosoken's sword action is possibly the most idiosyncratic thing here - though its difficulty curve is actually pretty generous, if you can master the deflect. Unlike Ikari/Guevara's bulletproof tanks, your blade never runs out of gas, and it bats away grenades, too! "BECOME A MASTER WITH YOUR SWORD," as the Japanese flyer sagely advises.
The most recommendable SNK rotary STG, which I don't think Obada worked on, is almost certainly SEARCH AND RESCUE - which I sincerely hope gets an ACA release, shorn of SNK40th's god-awful jank, ala TANK/Ikari/Dogo/Guevara. It's the kind of latter-day genre diehard that's smoothed-out, but not defanged. Agile, powerful player character VS hellish odds. Tremendous Aliens X Warhammer aesthetic, too, with a relentless air of terror. I'm really glad Guevara's already disturbing "Help... me..." POW sample never found its way into this Gigerrific fucker. Brrr.
Incidentally, anyone who likes this harshly tactical style of topdown run/gun should try out Sega's Gain Ground, the arcade version of which has a customarily beautiful M2 port on Switch. I wonder if that game's devs were influenced by Obada at all, the resemblance is striking.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Lolis fuck off. ULTRA VIOLENCE + METAL/ASPHALT (■`ω´■)
Thunder Dragon inbound. Odds of the next one being TD2 (or Gunnail) just shot up!
Thunder Dragon inbound. Odds of the next one being TD2 (or Gunnail) just shot up!
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
-
EmperorIng
- Posts: 5065
- Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:22 am
- Location: Chicago, IL
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Now that Thunder Dragon is out, I wonder how it upholds the NMK tradition of completely broken and moronic scoring systems. Place your bets! 12 minute milks? Scraping a wall?
DEMON'S TILT [bullet hell pinball] - Music Composer || EC2151 ~ My FM/YM2612 music & more! || 1CC List || PCE-CD: The Search for Quality
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I'm in a position now where I've so many ACA releases and retro comps, that I'm actually pausing, asking myself if I'll really play and enjoy the game I'm about to buy, then holding off. Not picked up Guerilla Way yet as I found the last quarter of Ikari too frustrating to memorise, the last few side-scrollers looked like dogshit, and this looks a bit 90's cookie-cutter. Inevitably though, I'll end up drunk, justifying it with 'it's only six quid', and springing.
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
TBH, anyone with more than a couple dozen quality arcade games in their stash has their work well cut out for them. I like to reward diligent purveyors of modern arcade releases like Hamster and M2 in the present, even if odds are, they and I will both be long gone before I do my backlog any sort of justice.
Ninja Kazan is an alright B-lister. Not a blazing late-80s triumph ala Daimakaimura or Ninja Spirit, but not a broken wreck ala Haunted Castle, either. It is fugly, though - one of the few arcade games where I consider that a relevant drawback. Legend of Makai is a sidescrolling Euro ARPG (Rare's Wizards And Warriors, to be precise) reworked into a coin-op by NMK. Sounds like a trainwreck on paper, but plays pretty nice imo.
Next big swingin' sidescrollin' dick comin' through is my boy HIPOPO starring in Taito's Mizubaku Daibouken - now that thar be a gem!
Where the fuck is Mystic Warriors though, get on that pls! I ain't complaining on the Konami front, with mahfuckin TRIGON home and dry, but they do tend to cocktease.
Reminds me, CRIME FIGHTERS on the way too. Shoot them in the face! Then shoot them again when they're on the ground!
Get the 1980s ultra violence you fucks!
Ninja Kazan is an alright B-lister. Not a blazing late-80s triumph ala Daimakaimura or Ninja Spirit, but not a broken wreck ala Haunted Castle, either. It is fugly, though - one of the few arcade games where I consider that a relevant drawback. Legend of Makai is a sidescrolling Euro ARPG (Rare's Wizards And Warriors, to be precise) reworked into a coin-op by NMK. Sounds like a trainwreck on paper, but plays pretty nice imo.
Next big swingin' sidescrollin' dick comin' through is my boy HIPOPO starring in Taito's Mizubaku Daibouken - now that thar be a gem!
Where the fuck is Mystic Warriors though, get on that pls! I ain't complaining on the Konami front, with mahfuckin TRIGON home and dry, but they do tend to cocktease.
Reminds me, CRIME FIGHTERS on the way too. Shoot them in the face! Then shoot them again when they're on the ground!
Get the 1980s ultra violence you fucks!
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
It doesn't have a scoring system, just infinite looping. Second loop onward is fairly different from the first loop too. Of course it can't be all roses, it has bullet wobble Takes a bit to love, but god damn if it's not a great looking and sounding game. Really enjoy it despite the flaws.EmperorIng wrote:Now that Thunder Dragon is out, I wonder how it upholds the NMK tradition of completely broken and moronic scoring systems.
To add to the BRVTALITY, the working name for the game was SLASH METALBIL wrote:ULTRA VIOLENCE + METAL/ASPHALT (■`ω´■)
Then they renamed it to a combination of their best sellers: P-47 Thunderbolt, and Saint Dragon.
@trap0xf | daifukkat.su/blog | scores | FIRE LANCER
<S.Yagawa> I like the challenge of "doing the impossible" with older hardware, and pushing it as far as it can go.
<S.Yagawa> I like the challenge of "doing the impossible" with older hardware, and pushing it as far as it can go.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
trap15 wrote:SLASH METAL
EDIT: hell yeah motherfucker, is out now. Obscenely late here but that's tomorrow morning sorted. Also the first ACA release to sport NMK's name and logo, hopefully a good portent!
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Oh, kind of interested in Makai now. Actually, you've raised a funny old thing there. Nobody I knew had a NES until way after that gen was over, usually as a second machine, yet I know for a fact I spent some decent time with Wizards n Warriors in the day. Weird..... I'm drawing a total blank.
Liquid Kids will be a day 1. Hopefully leading to Rainbow Islands and/or NZS.
Liquid Kids will be a day 1. Hopefully leading to Rainbow Islands and/or NZS.
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
This is probably the one reason I have absolutely no interest in buying a new console. Between the ACA, Neo, Jonny Turbo (they're still playable), and Capcom stuff, I'm deluged.BIL wrote:TBH, anyone with more than a couple dozen quality arcade games in their stash has their work well cut out for them. I like to reward diligent purveyors of modern arcade releases like Hamster and M2 in the present, even if odds are, they and I will both be long gone before I do my backlog any sort of justice.
Knowing my luck though, Sega will probably announce a new AGES line for next gen only, and port the likes of OutRunners, Scud Race, Daytona 2.....
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
There's more NMK love in the ACA NeoGeo section. Including Uncle Beard's beard.BIL wrote:Also the first ACA release to sport NMK's name and logo, hopefully a good portent!
Typos caused by cat on keyboard.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I was thinking while trying out TD this morning "Oh yeah, and Ragnarok."
Holy fuck, the combination of agile speed, monster guns and instant BOMBA feels good. Especially after a fortnight trudging through the hellish battlefield of late 50s Cuba! Who would have thought an antique heli found in the basement of a Chicago museum could still tear it up vs the dread CYBERMEPHISTS
Middleweights firing vertical shotgun blasts and rockets, a dear shumps friend
Bullet visiblity can be naughty (blue/white flash over white clouds :/), and Teh Wobbling is onerous as ever (if at least consistent), but as with several favourite STGs, I don't mind working around the foibles.
Mind the targeted spreads and dumbfire! Shit will piggyback on the horizontal pan.
(coincidentally, pls enquire as to my new shumps political movement BP/DAMFF ("Bad Panning? Do A Motherfucking Flip" )
I dunno if it was intentional, but I love that the orbital laser helper (proudly shown PWNing fuckers on the flyer) is called "SOL." Cause that's when you'd better use it! ACA manual is like "yeah you get tons of ammo, nuke 'em or you'll be sorry!"
Love those oldschool Japanese row houses turned tank hangars, in the first stage. Very MUSHA/Sengoku Ace/Vasara, though I'm pretty sure this predates all but the first. Personable chaps, NMK.
---
Not sure if this is an input lag reduction, under Preference Options, or something else? Their wording's a little hazy, as happens sometimes with ACA. It's "Off" by default - can't notice much difference either way, but ima noob.
WHOA ITS BEAUTIFUL Dem mad P47 directorial skills
Time to bump my ATTRACT MODO thread, I just found a post-coin ditty - PRESAGE - on par with Rayforce/Storm's On Standby and ORIGIN (Throw A Coin) I really dig "Waiting For Player" art & music, exudes largesse. Good show on the VGM front as always trap. I'm reminded of my want for ACA Fire Mustang! HIDE-KAZ got a gift for blistered-stark rock n' roll plus POWER OF ANGER ala Discharge. Only Eliminate Down's cock-slappingly crude midboss theme reminds me so of Free Speech For The Dumb. Jackhammering drums on In The Rain earn their Spanish name Bateria.
Holy fuck, the combination of agile speed, monster guns and instant BOMBA feels good. Especially after a fortnight trudging through the hellish battlefield of late 50s Cuba! Who would have thought an antique heli found in the basement of a Chicago museum could still tear it up vs the dread CYBERMEPHISTS
Middleweights firing vertical shotgun blasts and rockets, a dear shumps friend
Spoiler
Bullet visiblity can be naughty (blue/white flash over white clouds :/), and Teh Wobbling is onerous as ever (if at least consistent), but as with several favourite STGs, I don't mind working around the foibles.
Mind the targeted spreads and dumbfire! Shit will piggyback on the horizontal pan.
Spoiler
(coincidentally, pls enquire as to my new shumps political movement BP/DAMFF ("Bad Panning? Do A Motherfucking Flip" )
I dunno if it was intentional, but I love that the orbital laser helper (proudly shown PWNing fuckers on the flyer) is called "SOL." Cause that's when you'd better use it! ACA manual is like "yeah you get tons of ammo, nuke 'em or you'll be sorry!"
Love those oldschool Japanese row houses turned tank hangars, in the first stage. Very MUSHA/Sengoku Ace/Vasara, though I'm pretty sure this predates all but the first. Personable chaps, NMK.
---
Not sure if this is an input lag reduction, under Preference Options, or something else? Their wording's a little hazy, as happens sometimes with ACA. It's "Off" by default - can't notice much difference either way, but ima noob.
Spoiler
WHOA ITS BEAUTIFUL Dem mad P47 directorial skills
Spoiler
Time to bump my ATTRACT MODO thread, I just found a post-coin ditty - PRESAGE - on par with Rayforce/Storm's On Standby and ORIGIN (Throw A Coin) I really dig "Waiting For Player" art & music, exudes largesse. Good show on the VGM front as always trap. I'm reminded of my want for ACA Fire Mustang! HIDE-KAZ got a gift for blistered-stark rock n' roll plus POWER OF ANGER ala Discharge. Only Eliminate Down's cock-slappingly crude midboss theme reminds me so of Free Speech For The Dumb. Jackhammering drums on In The Rain earn their Spanish name Bateria.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I'm curious how Thunder Dragon II even got its name, as from the looks of things it has no thematic connection with the first. I'm guessing Big Bang was the working title.
-
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2020 2:19 am
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Thunder Dragon has an option I havent seen on ACA releases. In game preference there is a toggle to improve game operation that sounds like it reduces input lag. Pretty sweet. I'm on Switch
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
^^^ Interesting - can confirm it's on PS4, too.
My first thought was that the PCB might have innately higher than average input lag, and it's to stop that from being compounded by the usual emulation overhead and/or laggy displays.
The two significantly laggy things I've noticed across hundreds of ACA titles are that way on the boards themselves, too. Specifically Sunset Riders' crouch input (5f in ShmupMAME, versus 1f on everything else), and Ninja Spirit's name entry cursor (ungodly laggy, something insane like 8f via ShmupMAME, versus 1f everything else. I thought my stick was shot, at first, back when I had the board )
Total conjecture, though, and I don't notice much difference whether it's on or off.
My first thought was that the PCB might have innately higher than average input lag, and it's to stop that from being compounded by the usual emulation overhead and/or laggy displays.
The two significantly laggy things I've noticed across hundreds of ACA titles are that way on the boards themselves, too. Specifically Sunset Riders' crouch input (5f in ShmupMAME, versus 1f on everything else), and Ninja Spirit's name entry cursor (ungodly laggy, something insane like 8f via ShmupMAME, versus 1f everything else. I thought my stick was shot, at first, back when I had the board )
Total conjecture, though, and I don't notice much difference whether it's on or off.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
-
OmegaFlareX
- Posts: 884
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:15 pm
- Location: Virginia, USA
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
From the description, I would guess turning this on removes the sprite(?) buffer, a-la ShmupMAME. This reduces input lag, but causes sprites/backgrounds to be slightly out-of-sync. Most easily noticeable on tank craters and other nonmoving objects.BIL wrote:Not sure if this is an input lag reduction, under Preference Options, or something else? Their wording's a little hazy, as happens sometimes with ACA. It's "Off" by default - can't notice much difference either way, but ima noob.
Spoiler
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I noticed that quite a few games have laggy cursors for the name/initial entry screen on actual hardware. Not sure why it was done that way.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Interesting... I'll have to keep an eye out, I can't recall any offhand besides NS. Whose name entry is so unwieldy, I actually kind of resent it. Then again, the rest of the game would be unplayable at that sort of delay, so can't complain.
Fired it up and panned around with the option both on and off, couldn't perceive anything different tbh. I'm gonna leave it on for now I guess.
Thanks, that does sound plausible. VS Castlevania's flicker toggle refers to sprites as "characters," too.OmegaFlareX wrote:From the description, I would guess turning this on removes the sprite(?) buffer, a-la ShmupMAME. This reduces input lag, but causes sprites/backgrounds to be slightly out-of-sync. Most easily noticeable on tank craters and other nonmoving objects.
Fired it up and panned around with the option both on and off, couldn't perceive anything different tbh. I'm gonna leave it on for now I guess.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Goddamn Thunder Dragon is sweet!
Honestly, I'd written this one off as generic cookie-cutter Raiden clone, but it's actually really slick. Managed a half-dozen goes last night, got pasted at the third boss, but I had a fridge full of booze and my reactions were noticeably lacking by this point.
Love the weapon selection all genuinely useful at various points and none feel over/under powered. Normally hate that method of selecting them, but the bouncing power-ups aren't overly asshole-ish on this one. Second boss doesn't last a minute with fully powered-up missiles.
I can't find the preferences menu anywhere on mine through?
Honestly, I'd written this one off as generic cookie-cutter Raiden clone, but it's actually really slick. Managed a half-dozen goes last night, got pasted at the third boss, but I had a fridge full of booze and my reactions were noticeably lacking by this point.
Love the weapon selection all genuinely useful at various points and none feel over/under powered. Normally hate that method of selecting them, but the bouncing power-ups aren't overly asshole-ish on this one. Second boss doesn't last a minute with fully powered-up missiles.
I can't find the preferences menu anywhere on mine through?
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I know Thunder Dragon 2 is really popular, but surprised people are enjoying the first one.
It's the one NMK PCB I own, because it was a really cheap purchase way back when, and I don't think I got very far in it before I got so annoyed by the weird hitboxes I just wrote it off.
It's the one NMK PCB I own, because it was a really cheap purchase way back when, and I don't think I got very far in it before I got so annoyed by the weird hitboxes I just wrote it off.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
TBH at least 25% of my enjoyment comes from their dwindling excuses not to release TD2 (or Gunnail, or even Black Heart, just for Hide-Kaz's gorgeous fiery post-punk... now that I've played Makai Densetsu, suddenly I wonder if BH shared art staff with it - neither's really a looker imo, but they are highly distinctive). But yeah, I'm surprised at how good TD1 is, given its low profile vs TD2. As trap says it's got its rough edges, but ala Halley's Comet, the pickup/play ship and style go a long way.
I think it helps that your base power and speed are both (by arcade standards) very improv-friendly, and you get lots of instant-save bombs, so a suboptimal pick isn't the death sentence it can be in stricter games.Marc wrote:Normally hate that method of selecting them, but the bouncing power-ups aren't overly asshole-ish on this one. Second boss doesn't last a minute with fully powered-up missiles.
On PS4 at least, it's in Game Settings - easily missed, as always in the relative handful of ACA titles featuring it.I can't find the preferences menu anywhere on mine through?
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Yeah definitely. It's very friendly for a coin-op, you don't feel completely hopeless after a death, and bombs are plentiful. It feels almost relaxing playing alongside VarthBIL wrote: I think it helps that your base power and speed are both (by arcade standards) very improv-friendly, and you get lots of instant-save bombs, so a suboptimal pick isn't the death sentence it can be in stricter games.
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Thunder Dragon doesn't fuck around.
Typos caused by cat on keyboard.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Thunder "O-block Overlord" Dragon, the heli from Chicago, can't get caught lacking
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I noticed the earlier arcade archives are in the range of half a giga of space per game, and have worse filters. Nowadays they improved the filters and each game Is often below 100mb of space. Anyone knows why?
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Just an ongoing budget project gradually getting its act together, I guess. The last several allow you to disable score uploading in Game Preferences, a feature I enjoy (I like my emulation as notification-free as possible). Some of the earliest and most popular still don't have HS mode (Rygar, Double Dragon), though they've been updated in other regards.
They've always been pretty ad-hoc WRT features beyond the bare essentials. Certain recent STGs let you select from autofire or non-autofire tables in HS mode (Image Fight). Others just use a single table, with a filterable note attached to autofire scores (Trigon).
It is pretty nuts that Rygar is 900 friggin MB, a number unfathomable in its day, but the way it performs I'm not complaining.
They've always been pretty ad-hoc WRT features beyond the bare essentials. Certain recent STGs let you select from autofire or non-autofire tables in HS mode (Image Fight). Others just use a single table, with a filterable note attached to autofire scores (Trigon).
It is pretty nuts that Rygar is 900 friggin MB, a number unfathomable in its day, but the way it performs I'm not complaining.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Rygar is one I double dipped on. AFAIK, Hamster still hasn't added scanlines or the JP version to the US version. The JP Argos on Senshi version has scanlines and both versions of Rygar.
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
I'm guessing the Switch version has the goods. Speaking of Rygar check out this insanity:
https://youtu.be/jpuALusl0T4
https://youtu.be/jpuALusl0T4
Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.
Check out this guy's Round 17 milking. Gotta burn all your extends there for the top scores, personally I'm in two minds on that... I'd have nixed the stage's infinite, but the skill and nerve required to do all that, then recover and continue pressing the last ten rounds for points is formidable. Ultimately in these cases I prefer to use house rules, eg a No Miss category to curb suiciding.
Janet is cool. Going from a near-perfect game to a near-unplayable one, the only way I can enjoy Athena is watching him systematically demolish it on his PCB.
Janet is cool. Going from a near-perfect game to a near-unplayable one, the only way I can enjoy Athena is watching him systematically demolish it on his PCB.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]